M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
[BEHAALOSECHA]
8 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
2 Speak unto Aharon and say unto him, When thou set up the Nerot (lamps), the seven Nerot (lamps) shall cast light in front of the Menorah.
3 And Aharon did so; he set up the Nerot (lamps) thereof to give light in front of the Menorah, as Hashem commanded Moshe.
4 And the Menorah was made thus of hammered zahav, from its base unto its flower was it hammered out; according unto the mar’eh (pattern) which Hashem had shown Moshe, so he made the Menorah.
5 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
6 Take the Levi’im from among the Bnei Yisroel, and make them tahor.
7 And thus shalt thou do unto them, to make them tahor: Sprinkle water of purification upon them, and let them cause a razor to pass over their basar, and let them wash their clothes, and so make themselves tahor.
8 Then let them take a young bull with its minchah, even fine flour mixed with shemen, and another young bull shalt thou take for a chattat.
9 And thou shalt bring the Levi’im before the Ohel Mo’ed: and thou shalt gather Kol Adat Bnei Yisroel together;
10 And thou shalt bring the Levi’im before Hashem; and the Bnei Yisroel shall lay their hands upon the Levi’im;
11 And Aharon shall offer the Levi’im before Hashem for a tenufah from the Bnei Yisroel, that they may perform the Avodat Hashem.
12 And the Levi’im shall lay their hands upon the rosh of the bulls; and thou shalt offer the one for a chattat, and the other for an olah, unto Hashem, to make kapporah for the Levi’im.
13 And thou shalt set the Levi’im before Aharon, and before his Banim, and offer them for a tenufah unto Hashem.
14 Thus shalt thou set apart as separate the Levi’im from among the Bnei Yisroel; and the Levi’im shall be Mine.
15 And after that shall the Levi’im go in to do the service of the Ohel Mo’ed; and thou shalt make them tahor and offer them for a tenufah.
16 For they are wholly given unto Me from among the Bnei Yisroel; instead of such as open every womb, even instead of the Bechor Kol Bnei Yisroel, have I taken them unto Me.
17 For Kol Bechor Bnei Yisroel are Mine, both adam and behemah; on the day that I struck down kol bechor in Eretz Mitzrayim I set them apart as kodesh for Myself.
18 And I have taken the Levi’im tachat (instead of) Kol Bechor Bnei Yisroel.
19 And I have given the Levi’im as a gift to Aharon and to his Banim from among the Bnei Yisroel, to do the Avodat Bnei Yisroel in the Ohel Mo’ed, and to make kapporah for the Bnei Yisroel; so that there be no plague among the Bnei Yisroel, when the Bnei Yisroel come near unto HaKodesh.
20 And Moshe, and Aharon, and Kol Adat Bnei Yisroel, did with the Levi’im according unto all that Hashem commanded Moshe concerning the Levi’im, so did the Bnei Yisroel unto them.
21 And the Levi’im purified themselves, and they immersed their clothes; and Aharon offered them as a tenufah before Hashem; and Aharon made kapporah for them to make them tahor.
22 And after that went the Levi’im in to do their Avodah in the Ohel Mo’ed before Aharon, and before his Banim; just as Hashem had commanded Moshe concerning the Levi’im, so did they with them.
23 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe, saying,
24 This is it that belongeth unto the Levi’im: from twenty and five years old and upward they shall enter to perform service in the Avodat Ohel Mo’ed;
25 And from the age of fifty years they shall retire from the service of the Avodah and shall serve no more;
26 But shall assist with their brethren in the Ohel Mo’ed, in performing their duties, and shall do no Avodah. Thus shalt thou do with the Levi’im regarding their duties.
44 (For the one directing. Of the Bnei Korach. A maskil). We have heard with our oznayim, O Elohim, Avoteinu have told us, what po’al (work) Thou hast wrought in their days, in the times of old.
2 (3) How Thou didst drive out the Goyim with Thy Yad, but plantedst them; how Thou didst afflict the people, but for them Thou madest room.
3 (4) For they got not eretz in possession by their own cherev, neither did their own zero’a save them, but Thy Yamin (Right Hand), and Thine Zero’a, and the ohr (light) of Thy countenance, because Thou favored them.
4 (5) Thou art my Melech, O Elohim; command yeshu’ot (deliverances) for Ya’akov.
5 (6) Through Thee will we push down our enemies; through Thy Shem will we trample them under that rise up against us.
6 (7) For I will not trust in my keshet (bow), neither shall my cherev save me.
7 (8) But Thou hast saved us from tzareinu (our enemies), and hast put them to shame that hated us.
8 (9) In Elohim we boast kol hayom, and praise Thy Shem l’olam (forever). Selah.
9 (10) But Thou hast cast off, and disgraced us; and goest not forth with tzivoteinu (our armies).
10 (11) Thou makest us to turn back from before the tzar (enemy); and they which hate us have taken plunder for themselves.
11 (12) Thou hast given us up like tzon appointed for food; and hast scattered us among the Goyim.
12 (13) Thou sellest Amecha (Thy People) for a mere nothing, and art not enriched by their price.
13 (14) Thou makest us a cherpah (reproach) to our shchenim (neighbors), a scorn and a derision to them that are all around us.
14 (15) Thou makest us a mashal (byword) among the Goyim, a shaking of the rosh among the peoples.
15 (16) Kol hayom my dishonor is continually before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me,
16 (17) At the voice of him that reproacheth and revileth; by reason of the oyev (enemy) and avenger.
17 (18) All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy Brit.
18 (19) Libenu (our heart) is not turned back, neither have our steps departed from Thy way;
19 (20) Though Thou hast crushed us in the makom (place, home, haunt) of jackals, and covered us with the tzalmavet (shadow of death).
20 (21) If we have forgotten the Shem of Eloheinu, or stretched out our palms [in worship] to an el zar (foreign g-d);
21 (22) Shall not Elohim search this out? For He knoweth the secrets of the lev.
22 (23) Yes, for Thy sake are we killed kol hayom; we are counted as tzon (sheep) for the tivchah (slaughter).
23 (24) Awake. Why sleepest Thou, Adonoi? Arise, cast us not off lanetzach (forever).
24 (25) Why hidest Thou Thy face, and forgettest our oni (misery, affliction) and our oppression?
25 (26) For our nefesh is bowed down to the aphar (dust); our beten (belly, body) has deveykus with the dirt.
26 (27) Arise for our help, and redeem us for the sake of Thy chesed.
6 Where is thy beloved gone, O thou fairest among nashim? Where is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee?
2 Dodi (my beloved) is gone down into his gan (garden), to the beds of spices, to feed in the ganim (gardens), and to gather shoshanim (lilies).
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine; he feedeth among the shoshanim.
4 Thou art yafeh, O my love, as Tirtzah, lovely as Yerushalayim, awe-inspiring as bannered troops on the march.
5 Turn away thine eyes from me, for they overwhelm me; thy hair is as an eder of goats that descend from Gil‘ad.
6 Thy teeth are as an eder harechalim (flock of ewes) which go up from the washing, whereof every one is matched, and there is not one missing among them.
7 As a half pomegranate is thy temple within thy veil.
8 There are threescore melakhot (queens), and fourscore pilagshim (concubines), and alamot (young unmarried virgins) without number [T.N. Alamot is plural of almah, "virgin," alamot, "virgins;" see Shir HaShirim 1:3; Yeshayah 7:14; Bereshis 24:43; Shemot 2:8; Mishlei 30:19 where the word means explicitly or implicitly "virgin" and where "young woman" is not an adequate rendering, in this case, since the King was hardly interested in only young women in his harem, but demanded "virgins"; the older Jewish translations like Harkavy’s so translated the word as "virgin" in this verse until it became politically incorrect to do so in later, more liberal Jewish translations into English].
9 My yonah (dove), tammati (my perfect one, my undefiled) is unique; she is the only one of her em (mother), she is the barah (choice one) of her that bore her. The banot saw her, they called her blessed; yea, the melakhot and the pilagshim [see 6:8] praise her.
10 Who is she that looks forth like the shachar (dawn), yafeh as the levanah (moon), clear as the sun, and aweinspiring as bannered troops on the march?
11 I went down into the grove of nut trees to see the blossoms of the valley, and to see whether hagefen (the vine) flourished and the pomegranates bloomed.
12 Before I was aware, my nefesh lifted me up to the merkevot of ammi (my people) of one, a royal one.
13 (7:1) Return, return, O Shulamite; return, return, that we may gaze upon thee. What will ye see in the Shulamite? As it were the mecholat Machanayim (dance of the Machanayim [see Bereshis 32:3]).
6 Therefore, let us leave behind the stam (elementary) ikarim (essentials) of the dvarim hahora’ah (words of teaching) about Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, and let us move ahead to hitbagrut (maturity), not laying again a foundation of teshuva from ma’asim metim (dead works) and Emunah toward Hashem,
2 Of divrei torah on tevilot and tohorah and s’michat yadayim and of the Techiyas HaMesim and of the Mishpat Olam.
3 And this we shall do, im yirtzeh Hashem (if the L-rd wills).
4 For it is impossible for those who once received the Ohr Hashem, having tasted of the matanah of Shomayim and having become chavrusa partners of the Ruach Hakodesh,
5 And having tasted the goodness of the Dvar Hashem and the nifla’ot of the Olam Habah,
6 and then, having fallen away, and become shmad‖it is impossible to renew them again to teshuva, because they have pierced to themselves the Ben HaElohim on HaEtz HaKelalat Hashem and have again held him up to contempt and open bushah (shame).
7 For the Adamah (Mud), which drinks the geshem (rain) that often falls upon it, and brings forth ESEV (plants, BERESHIS 1:11) suitable for those for whom it is cultivated, receives a bracha from Hashem;
8 But if Adamah (Mud) is producing KOTZ V’DARDAR (thorns and thistles, BERESHIS 3:18), it is worthless and near to being arurah (cursed, BERESHIS 3:17), whose Ketz (End) is for burning in Eish [T.N. the allusion is to Eish Gehinnom].
9 However, Chaverim, even though we speak in this way, we have been convinced of better things concerning you and of things belonging to Yeshua’at Eloheinu.
10 For Hashem is not unjust so as to forget your po’al (work) and the ahavah which you have shown toward ha-Shem of him, having rendered avodas kodesh ministry service to the Kadoshim, ken, and you are still serving them.
11 And we desire that each one of you show the same zerizut (diligence) so as to realize the full bitachon of the tikvah (hope) until HaKetz,
12 That you not become atzlanit (sluggards) but imitators of the ones who through Emunah and zitzfleisch (patience) inherit the havtachot (promises).
13 For when Hashem gave the havtachah (promise) to Avraham Avinu, als (since) Hashem had no one greater by which to make a shevu’ah (oath), Hashem made a shevu’ah by Himself, [BERESHIS 22:16]
14 Saying "Surely blessing I will bless you and multiplying I will multiply you" BERESHIS 22:17).
15 And thus, having waited with zitzfleisch, Avraham Avinu obtained the havtachah (promise).
16 For Bnei Adam make a shevu’ah by someone greater than themselves, and a shevu’ah given as confirmation, settles every matter decisively.
17 Similarly, when Hashem wanted to demonstrate even more emphatically to the yoreshim (heirs) of the havtachah (promise) the unchangeableness of his willed tachlis (purpose), Hashem guaranteed it with a shevu’ah,
18 In order that by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for Hashem to speak sheker, we may have chozek (strength) and great encouragement, we who say that "he is my MAKHSEH (refuge, shelter TEHILLIM 91:2)" and have taken hold of the tikvah (hope) set before us.
19 This tikvah we have as an ogen (anchor) for the neshamah, a tikvah both firm and secure, which enters inside the parokhet,
20 Where Yehoshua has entered as a foroisgeier (forerunner) on behalf of us, having become a KOHEN L’OLAM AL DIVRATI MALKI TZEDEK ("Kohen forever according to the order of Malki Tzedek" Ps 110:4).
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