M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
16 One day Korah (son of Izhar, grandson of Kohath, and a descendant of Levi) conspired with Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab) and On (the son of Peleth), all three from the tribe of Reuben, 2 to incite a rebellion against Moses. Two hundred and fifty popular leaders, all members of the Assembly, were involved.
3 They went to Moses and Aaron and said, “We have had enough of your presumption; you are no better than anyone else; everyone in Israel has been chosen of the Lord, and he is with all of us. What right do you have to put yourselves forward, claiming that we must obey you, and acting as though you were greater than anyone else among all these people of the Lord?”
4 When Moses heard what they were saying he fell face downward to the ground. 5 Then he said to Korah and to those who were with him, “In the morning the Lord will show you who are his, and who is holy, and whom he has chosen as his priest. 6-7 Do this: You, Korah, and all those with you, take censers tomorrow and light them, and put incense upon them before the Lord, and we will find out whom the Lord has chosen.[a] You are the presumptuous ones, you sons of Levi.”
8-9 Then Moses spoke again to Korah: “Does it seem a small thing to you that the God of Israel has chosen you from among all the people of Israel to be near to himself as you work in the Tabernacle of Jehovah, and to stand before the people to minister to them? 10 Is it nothing to you that he has given this task to only you Levites? And now are you demanding the priesthood also? 11-12 That is what you are really after! That is why you are revolting against Jehovah. And what has Aaron done, that you are dissatisfied with him?” Then Moses summoned Dathan and Abiram (the sons of Eliab), but they refused to come.
13 “Is it a small thing,” they mimicked,[b] “that you brought us out of lovely Egypt to kill us here in this terrible wilderness, and that now you want to make yourself our king? 14 What’s more, you haven’t brought us into the wonderful country you promised, nor given us fields and vineyards. Whom are you trying to fool? We refuse to come.”
15 Then Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept their sacrifices! I have never stolen so much as a donkey from them and have not hurt one of them.”
16 And Moses said to Korah, “Come here tomorrow before the Lord with all your friends; Aaron will be here too. 17 Be sure to bring your censers with incense on them; a censer for each man, 250 in all; and Aaron will also be here with his.”
18 So they did. They came with their censers and lit them and placed the incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle with Moses and Aaron. 19 Meanwhile, Korah had stirred up the entire nation against Moses and Aaron, and they all assembled to watch. Then the glory of Jehovah appeared to all the people, 20 and Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Get away from these people so that I may instantly destroy them.”
22 But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the ground before the Lord. “O God, the God of all mankind,” they pleaded, “must you be angry with all the people when one man sins?”
23-24 And the Lord said to Moses, “Then tell the people to get away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 So Moses rushed over to the tents of Dathan and Abiram, followed closely by the 250 Israeli leaders. 26 “Quick!” he told the people, “get away from the tents of these wicked men, and don’t touch anything that belongs to them, lest you be included in their sins and be destroyed with them.[c]”
27 So all the people stood back from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents with their wives and sons and little ones.
28 And Moses said, “By this you shall know that Jehovah has sent me to do all these things that I have done—for I have not done them on my own. 29 If these men die a natural death or from some ordinary accident or disease, then Jehovah has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord does a miracle and the ground opens up and swallows them and everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised the Lord.”
31 He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them, 32 and a great fissure swallowed them up, along with their tents and families and the friends who were standing with them, and everything they owned. 33 So they went down alive into Sheol and the earth closed upon them, and they perished. 34 All of the people of Israel fled at their screams, fearing that the earth would swallow them too. 35 Then fire came from Jehovah and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.
36-37 And the Lord said to Moses, “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to pull those censers from the fire; for they are holy, dedicated to the Lord. He must also scatter the burning incense 38 from the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their lives. He shall then beat the metal into a sheet as a covering for the altar, for these censers are holy because they were used before the Lord; and the altar sheet shall be a reminder to the people of Israel.”
39 So Eleazar the priest took the 250 bronze censers and beat them out into a sheet of metal to cover the altar, 40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel that no unauthorized person—no one who is not a descendant of Aaron—may come before the Lord to burn incense, lest the same thing happen to him as happened to Korah and his associates. Thus the Lord’s directions to Moses were carried out.
41 But the very next morning all the people began muttering again against Moses and Aaron, saying, “You have killed the Lord’s people.”
42 Soon a great, sullen mob formed; suddenly, as they looked toward the Tabernacle, the Cloud appeared and the awesome glory of the Lord was seen. 43-44 Moses and Aaron came and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle, and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Get away from these people so that I can instantly destroy them.” But Moses and Aaron fell face downward to the earth before the Lord.
46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Quick, take a censer and place fire in it from the altar; lay incense on it, and carry it quickly among the people and make atonement for them; for God’s anger has gone out among them—the plague has already begun.”
47 Aaron did as Moses had told him to, and ran among the people, for the plague had indeed already begun; and he put on the incense and made atonement for them. 48 And he stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was stopped, 49 but not before 14,700 people had died (in addition to those who had died the previous day with Korah). 50 Then Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tabernacle; and so the plague was stopped.
52 Written by David to protest against his enemy Doeg (1 Samuel 22), who later slaughtered eighty-five priests and their families.
You call yourself a hero, do you? You boast about this evil deed of yours against God’s people. 2 You are sharp as a tack in plotting your evil tricks. 3 How you love wickedness—far more than good! And lying more than truth! 4 You love to slander—you love to say anything that will do harm, O man with the lying tongue.
5 But God will strike you down, pull you from your home, and drag you away from the land of the living. 6 The followers of God will see it happen. They will watch in awe. Then they will laugh and say, 7 “See what happens to those who despise God and trust in their wealth, and become ever more bold in their wickedness.”[a]
8 But I am like a sheltered olive tree protected by the Lord himself. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. 9 O Lord, I will praise you forever and ever for your punishment.[b] And I will wait for your mercies—for everyone knows what a merciful God you are.
53 Only a fool would say to himself, “There is no God.” And why does he say it?[c] Because of his wicked heart, his dark and evil deeds. His life is corroded with sin.
2 God looks down from heaven, searching among all mankind to see if there is a single one who does right and really seeks for God. 3 But all have turned their backs on him; they are filthy with sin—corrupt and rotten through and through. Not one is good, not one! 4 How can this be? Can’t they understand anything? For they devour my people like bread and refuse to come to God. 5 But soon unheard-of terror will fall on them. God will scatter the bones of these, your enemies. They are doomed, for God has rejected them.
6 Oh, that God would come from Zion now and save Israel! Only when the Lord himself restores them can they ever be really happy again.
54 Written by David at the time the men of Ziph tried to betray him to Saul.
Come with great power,[d] O God, and save me! Defend me with your might! 2 Oh, listen to my prayer. 3 For violent men have risen against me—ruthless men who care nothing for God are seeking my life.
4 But God is my helper. He is a friend of mine![e] 5 He will cause the evil deeds of my enemies to boomerang upon them. Do as you promised and put an end to these wicked men, O God. 6 Gladly I bring my sacrifices to you; I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good.
7 God has rescued me from all my trouble, and triumphed over my enemies.
6 The year King Uzziah died I saw the Lord! He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the Temple was filled with his glory. 2 Hovering about him were mighty, six-winged angels of fire. With two of their wings they covered their faces, with two others they covered their feet, and with two they flew. 3 In a great antiphonal chorus they sang, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is filled with his glory.” 4 Such singing it was! It shook the Temple to its foundations, and suddenly the entire sanctuary was filled with smoke.
5 Then I said, “My doom is sealed, for I am a foul-mouthed sinner, a member of a sinful, foul-mouthed race; and I have looked upon the King, the Lord of heaven’s armies.”
6 Then one of the mighty angels flew over to the altar and with a pair of tongs picked out a burning coal. 7 He touched my lips with it and said, “Now you are pronounced ‘not guilty’ because this coal has touched your lips. Your sins are all forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord asking, “Whom shall I send as a messenger to my people? Who will go?”
And I said, “Lord, I’ll go! Send me.”
9 And he said, “Yes, go. But tell my people this: ‘Though you hear my words repeatedly, you won’t understand them. Though you watch and watch as I perform my miracles, still you won’t know what they mean.’ 10 Dull their understanding, close their ears, and shut their eyes. I don’t want them to see or to hear or to understand, or to turn to me to heal them.”[a]
11 Then I said, “Lord, how long will it be before they are ready to listen?”
And he replied, “Not until their cities are destroyed—without a person left—and the whole country is an utter wasteland, 12 and they are all taken away as slaves to other countries far away, and all the land of Israel lies deserted! 13 Yet a tenth—a remnant—will survive; and though Israel is invaded again and again and destroyed, yet Israel will be like a tree cut down, whose stump still lives to grow again.”
13 Continue to love each other with true brotherly love. 2 Don’t forget to be kind to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! 3 Don’t forget about those in jail. Suffer with them as though you were there yourself. Share the sorrow of those being mistreated, for you know what they are going through.
4 Honor your marriage and its vows, and be pure; for God will surely punish all those who are immoral or commit adultery.
5 Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.” 6 That is why we can say without any doubt or fear, “The Lord is my Helper, and I am not afraid of anything that mere man can do to me.”
7 Remember your leaders who have taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and try to trust the Lord as they do.
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your spiritual strength comes as a gift from God, not from ceremonial rules about eating certain foods—a method which, by the way, hasn’t helped those who have tried it!
10 We have an altar—the cross where Christ was sacrificed—where those who continue to seek salvation by obeying Jewish laws can never be helped. 11 Under the system of Jewish laws, the high priest brought the blood of the slain animals into the sanctuary as a sacrifice for sin, and then the bodies of the animals were burned outside the city. 12 That is why Jesus suffered and died outside the city, where his blood washed our sins away.
13 So let us go out to him beyond the city walls (that is, outside the interests of this world, being willing to be despised[a]) to suffer with him there, bearing his shame. 14 For this world is not our home; we are looking forward to our everlasting home in heaven.
15 With Jesus’ help we will continually offer our sacrifice of praise to God by telling others of the glory of his name. 16 Don’t forget to do good and to share what you have with those in need, for such sacrifices are very pleasing to him. 17 Obey your spiritual leaders and be willing to do what they say. For their work is to watch over your souls, and God will judge them on how well they do this. Give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord and not with sorrow, for then you will suffer for it too.
18 Pray for us, for our conscience is clear and we want to keep it that way. 19 I especially need your prayers right now so that I can come back to you sooner.
20-21 And now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, equip you with all you need for doing his will. May he who became the great Shepherd of the sheep by an everlasting agreement between God and you, signed with his blood, produce in you through the power of Christ all that is pleasing to him. To him be glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Brethren, please listen patiently to what I have said in this letter, for it is a short one. 23 I want you to know that Brother Timothy is now out of jail; if he comes here soon, I will come with him to see you. 24-25 Give my greetings to all your leaders and to the other believers there. The Christians from Italy who are here with me send you their love. God’s grace be with you all. Good-bye.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.