M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules about the Day of Atonement
16 The Lord spoke to Moses after the two sons of Aaron died. The gift that they gave to the Lord was not holy. So they died. 2 The Most Holy Place in the Tent of Meeting is behind the curtain. The Lord said to Moses, ‘Your brother Aaron cannot go behind the curtain at any time that he wants to. Tell him that. The Lord appears in a cloud over the lid of the Covenant Box. So Aaron will die if he does not obey the Lord.
3 This is how Aaron must go into the Most Holy Place. He must bring a young bull for a sin offering. He must also bring a male sheep for a burnt offering. 4 He must wash his body before he puts on his special clothes. He must wear his linen robe and linen clothes next to his body. They are holy. He must tie a linen belt round his body. He must put the linen hat on his head. These clothes are holy. 5 He must take two male goats for a sin offering. And he must take a male sheep for a burnt offering. They are a gift from Israel's people.
6 Aaron must offer the bull as an atonement to the Lord for himself, his family and his servants. 7 He must take the two goats to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They are a gift to the Lord. 8 He must use the special stones.[a] They will help him to decide what he should do. He must decide which goat is for the Lord. And he must decide which goat he must send away. 9 Aaron must take the goat that is for the Lord. And he must kill it. It is a sin offering. 10 He must not kill the other goat. It is an atonement to the Lord. It will pay for the bad things that the people have done. It is to take away the people's punishment. He must send it away into the desert.’
11 ‘Aaron must bring the bull and he must kill it. It is his atonement for his family's sins. 12 He must take a pot of the hot material. It is burning on the altar in front of the Lord. He must fill his two hands with incense. He must take the hot material and the incense behind the curtain. 13 He must put the incense on the burning material. It is in front of the Lord. The smoke will cover the lid of the Covenant Box. So he will not die. 14 He must take with him blood from the bull. He must use his finger to shake the blood. He must shake it onto the lid of the Covenant Box. He must shake the blood in front of the lid of the Covenant Box. He must shake it seven times with his finger.
15 Aaron must kill the goat for the sin offering. It is a gift from the people. He must take the blood behind the curtain. He must shake the blood on the lid of the Covenant Box as he did with the bull's blood. And he must shake the blood in front of the lid of the Covenant Box. 16 This will make atonement for all the sins of Israel's people. This will make the Holy Place clean. Aaron must do the same for the Tent of Meeting. That is because the people have done bad things in the camp. The Tent of meeting is in the middle of the camp. 17 Aaron must give the offerings to God. He must give them for his family and he must give them for his servants. He must give them for all the people. Nobody can go into the Tent of Meeting while Aaron is in the Most Holy Place. He must be alone when he goes in. And he must be alone until he comes out. He must be alone when he gives the offerings to God. Those offerings make atonement for himself, for his family and for all Israel's people.
18 He must go to the altar that is in front of the Lord. He must make atonement for it. He must take blood from the bull and blood from the goat. He must put the blood on the horns of the altar. 19 He must shake blood on the altar seven times to make it clean.
A goat will carry away all the bad things that the people have done
20 Aaron must first atone for the Most Holy Place, the Tent of meeting and the altar. Then he must bring the goat that is alive. 21 He must put his hands on the goat's head. He must speak aloud all the bad things that Israel's people have done. Then all the bad things will be on the goat's head. Aaron must tell a man that he must send the goat away into the desert. 22 The goat will carry all the sins of the people into the desert. The man must send it away into the desert.
23 Aaron must go into the Tent of Meeting. He must take off his special linen clothes. The holy clothes must stay in the Tent of Meeting. 24 He must wash his body in a holy place. He must put on his own clothes. He must leave the holy place. Then he must sacrifice the burnt offerings. They will make atonement for himself and for the people. 25 And he must also burn the fat from the sin offering on the altar.
26 The person who sent the goat away must wash his clothes and his body. He can return to the camp. 27 Aaron had killed a bull and a goat. He took their blood into the Most Holy Place to make atonement. Someone must carry their dead bodies outside the camp. He must burn them. That man must burn the skin, the meat and the inside parts. 28 The man who burnt the animals must wash his clothes and his body. Then he can return to the camp.
29 On the tenth day of the seventh month, Israel's people must not eat any food. This is a rule that you must obey for all time. The people who are travelling with them must not eat any food. None of them must do any work. 30 This day will make them clean from all their sins. The Lord will see them as clean people. This will be the Day of Atonement. 31 It is a day when you do not eat any food. It is a day of rest. This is a rule from God and you must do this every year. 32 The leader of the priests is a chosen son of Aaron. And he must make atonement. He will put on the special linen clothes that are holy. He will bring the people's offerings. 33 He will make atonement for the Most Holy Place. He will make atonement for the Tent of Meeting. He will make atonement for the altar. He will make atonement for the priests and for all the people.
34 He will make atonement for all the Israelites' sins once every year. This rule is for now and for all time.’
The people did everything in the way that the Lord had commanded Moses.
This is a song that David wrote for the music leader.
God teaches us about himself
19 The heavens show us how great God is.
The sky above shows his good work.
2 Each day speaks about God,
until the next day continues the story.
Every night tells us how great God is.
3 They do not use words to speak with.
Nobody hears their voice.
4 But their message goes round all the earth.
All the world can understand what they say.
God has made a home for the sun in the sky.
5 Each morning, the sun comes out,
like a happy man who has just married.
It comes out,
like a strong man who wants to run a race.
6 The sun rises at one end of the heavens.
It travels in a big circle to the other end.
Nothing can hide from its heat.[a]
7 The law of the Lord is perfect.
It makes us strong again.
We can trust what the Lord teaches us.
He helps ordinary people to be wise.
8 The Lord's rules are always right.
If we obey them, they make us really happy.
The Lord's commands are completely good.
They show us how to live in a good way.
9 It is right for us to respect the Lord.
That will always help us.
The laws of the Lord are true.
They are right and fair.
10 They are more valuable than gold,
even the best gold.
They are sweeter than the best honey.
11 Your laws warn us to do what is right.
If we obey them, they are a great help to us.[b]
12 Nobody realizes every time they do something wrong.
Please forgive me for the sins that I do not know about.
13 Lord, stop me doing things that I know are wrong.
Do not let those sins rule my life.
Then I will not be guilty.
I will not have turned against you in a bad way.
14 Lord, I want to make you happy.
I want my words and my thoughts to please you.
You are my strong Rock
and you are my Redeemer.[c]
The wise words of Agur
30 These are the words of Jakeh's son, Agur. It is an important message. The man says this to Ithiel:
God, I am weak and tired. I cannot continue to stand.
2 I feel more stupid than any other person. I do not understand things as other people do.
3 I have never learned wisdom. I do not know anything about God, the Holy One.
4 No one has gone up to heaven and then come back. No one has held the wind in his hands. No one has tied his coat around the seas. No one has fixed the borders of the earth. If anyone has done this, tell me his name. Tell me his son's name. Tell me, if you know.
5 Everything that God says is completely true. If you trust him, he will protect you like a soldier's shield.
6 Do not add anything to what God has said. If you do that, he will warn you. He will show that you are someone who tells lies.
7 God, I ask you to do two things for me. Please do them before I die:
8 Do not let me ever deceive people with lies.
Do not let me be too rich or too poor. Give me only as much food as I need each day.
9 If I have more than enough, I might say that I do not know you. I might say, ‘Who is the Lord?’
But if I am poor, I might rob people. That would insult my God's good name.
10 Do not say bad things about a servant to his master. If you do, the servant may curse you, and then you will be guilty.
11 There are some people who curse their fathers. They do not bless their mothers.
12 There are some people who think that they are perfect. But they are still dirty inside.
13 There are some people who are very proud. They look down on everyone else.
14 There are some people who are very cruel. Their teeth are like swords and sharp knives. They want to eat up all the poor and helpless people, so that they disappear from the earth.
15 A greedy leech has two daughters.[a] They are always saying, ‘Give me more!’
There are three things that never have enough for themselves, even four things:
16 The deep hole of death.
A wife who has no children.
Dry ground that needs rain.
A fire that burns strongly.
17 Punishment will come to anyone who insults his father, or who refuses to listen to his mother. Wild birds will pick out his eyes and vultures will eat his body.
18 There are three things that are too difficult for me to understand, even four things:
19 How an eagle flies high in the sky.
How a snake moves across a rock.
How a ship sails on the sea.
How a man starts to love a young woman.
20 A woman who is not faithful to her husband does this: When she has sex with another man, she thinks it is like a meal that she has eaten. Then she washes herself and she says, ‘I have not done anything wrong.’ That is something else that I cannot understand.
21 There are three things that make the earth shake, even four things:
22 A slave who becomes a king.
A fool who eats too much.
23 A woman that nobody loves who marries a husband.
A female servant who takes the place of the woman that she has served.
24 There are four things that live on the earth which are very small, but they are also very wise:
25 Ants are not very strong, but they prepare their food in the summer.
26 Rock badgers are weak animals, but they make their homes among the rocks.
27 Locusts have no king to lead them, but they all fly together as one.
28 Lizards are easy to catch with your hand, but you will see them in kings' palaces.
29 There are three things that seem great as they walk around, even four things:
30 Lions are the strongest of all animals, and they are not afraid of anything.
31 Cockerels that shout proudly.
Male goats.
A king who has his army with him.
32 You may be foolish and too proud of yourself. You may have ideas to do evil things. If that is true, stop yourself! Do not say a word! 33 If you beat milk for a long time, it will become butter. If you hit someone's nose, it will bleed. In the same way, if you make people angry, it will cause trouble.
Paul says ‘Hello’ to Timothy
1 This letter is from me, Paul. I am an apostle of Christ Jesus. God, our Saviour, is the one who commanded that I should be an apostle. So did Christ Jesus, the one that we trust to help us.
2 I am writing to you, Timothy. I told you the message about Jesus and you believed in him. So you are like my own child.
I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord will continue to help you and be kind to you. I pray that they will give you peace in your mind.
Paul tells Timothy to stop the wrong teachers
3 When I was going to Macedonia, I asked you to stay in Ephesus. Please continue to stay there. Certain people in Ephesus are teaching wrong things about God. You must tell them to stop doing that. 4 Tell people not to listen to false stories. They should not always be studying long lists of their families' names from years ago. Those things do not help people. They only cause them to argue. Instead, they need to understand God's purpose for us. To do that, people must trust him.
5 We need to teach people to love one another with pure thoughts. They need to be sure in their minds that they are living in a good way. They need to trust God completely. 6 But certain people have failed to live in that way. They would rather talk about things that do not help anyone. 7 They want to be teachers of God's laws. They speak very strongly, but they do not really understand what they are talking about.
The purpose of God's laws
8 We know that God's laws are good, if people use them properly. 9 We also know that God did not make those laws for people who already live in a good way. He made them for people like this, to show them what is right:
people who refuse to obey any laws;
people who do not want anyone to rule them;
people who turn away from God;
people who do bad things;
people who do not respect God's holy things;
people who kill their father or their mother;
people who murder;
10 people who have sex in a wrong way;
men who have sex with other men;
people who catch other people to sell them;
people who tell lies;
people who do not speak the truth in court;
people who do any wrong things that are against God's true message.
11 That true message is the good news that comes from our great God. We praise him for it. He has chosen me to tell this good news to people.
Paul thanks Christ Jesus
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has made me strong to serve him. He decided to trust me and he chose me to work on his behalf. 13 Before he chose me, I said bad things about him. I caused great trouble for his people. I was a cruel man, but God was very kind to me. He forgave me because I did not know what I was doing. That was because I did not believe in Jesus. 14 Our Lord continued to be very good and kind to me. He caused me to believe in Christ Jesus and to love him.
15 Here is a true message that everyone should believe: ‘Christ Jesus came into the world to save people who do wrong things.’ I am the worst person like that! 16 But God was kind to me.[a] Christ Jesus showed that he was completely patient with me, the worst person. That was an example to those people who would later believe in him. They would believe and receive life for ever with God.
17 Praise God, the King who rules for ever! He can never die. He lives where we cannot see him. He is the only God. So praise him and say how great he is! That is true always and for ever! Amen! This is true.
Timothy should be a good leader in the church
18 Timothy, you are like my own child. So now I am telling you to serve God well. Remember the words from God that people spoke about you, when you became a servant of God.[b] Those words will help you to be strong, like a soldier who fights well.[c] 19 You must continue to trust God. Always do what you know to be right. Some people have refused to do what is right, even when they know what they should do. As a result, they no longer believe God's true message. 20 Hymenaeus and Alexander are people like that.[d] I have given them to Satan so that he may punish them. Then they will learn not to say bad things against God any more.
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