M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The silver trumpets
10 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Make two trumpets from one piece of silver. Use a hammer to make them in the right shape. Make a noise with them to tell the people that they must come together. Also, use the trumpets to tell the people that they must move the camp. 3 When the people hear the sound from both trumpets, all the people must meet you. They must meet you at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 4 But you may want only the leaders of Israel's tribes to meet you. If you want that, a priest should make the sound from only one trumpet. 5 But when the sound is one short sound, the tribes on the east side of the camp must start to travel. 6 When they hear the next short sound, the tribes on the south side of the camp must start to travel. Short sounds from the trumpet will tell the people that they must start to travel. 7 But when you want everyone to meet together, make a different sound with the trumpet.
8 The priests, the sons of Aaron, must use the trumpets to make a noise. This is a rule for you and for all your descendants. 9 Use the trumpets to tell everyone when an enemy is attacking you in your own land. Make a sound with the trumpets to tell the people that they must fight the enemy. Then the Lord your God will hear and he will save you from your enemies. 10 You must make sounds with the trumpets on your happy days, too. And you must make sounds with the trumpets at your regular festivals and on the first days of your months. And you must make sounds with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over your friendship offerings. God will hear and he will remember you. I am the Lord your God.’
The Israelites leave the Sinai desert
11 In the second year, in the second month, on the 20th day of the month, the cloud went up. It went away from God's Tent of Meeting. 12 So the Israelites started to travel on their journey away from the Sinai desert.[a] Then the cloud stopped in the desert called Paran. 13 They started to travel for the first time, in the way that the Lord had told them to do, through Moses.
14 The flag of the camp of Judah's tribe, started to travel first, with all their armies. And Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over all their armies. 15 Nethanel, the son of Zuar, was over the army of the tribe of Issachar. 16 Eliab, the son of Helon, was over the army of the tribe of Zebulun. 17 Then the Levites packed God's Tent. Then Gershon's clan and Merari's clan, who were carrying God's Tent, started to travel.
18 Next the flag of the camp of Reuben started to travel, with all their armies. Elizur, the son of Shedeur, was over all their armies. 19 Shelumiel, the son of Zurishaddai, was over the army of the tribe of Simeon. 20 Eliasaph, the son of Deuel, was over the army of the tribe of Gad. 21 Then Kohath's clan started to travel. They were carrying the holy things. Before they arrived at the new camp, the other Levites would put up God's Tent.
22 Next the flag of the camp of the tribe of Ephraim started to travel, with all their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over all their armies. 23 And Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of Manasseh. 24 And Abidan the son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of Benjamin.
25 Then the flag of the camp of the tribe of Dan started to travel last, with all their armies. They could keep the Israelites safe if an enemy attacked them from behind them. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over all their armies. 26 And Pagiel the son of Ocran was over the army of the tribe of Asher. 27 And Ahira the son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of Naphtali. 28 The Israelites marched out like that every time that they started to travel.
29 Moses spoke to Reuel's son, Hobab. He was the brother of Moses' wife. He was a Midianite. Moses said to Hobab, ‘We are leaving here now to go to another place. The Lord has said to us, “I will give that place to you.” The Lord has promised to help Israel's people with good things. So come with us and we will take care of you.’
30 But Hobab said to him, ‘I will not come. Instead, I will return to my own country and to my family there.’
31 Moses said, ‘Please do not leave us. You know good places for us to put up our tents in the desert. So you can be our guide. 32 And if you come with us, we will share with you the good things that the Lord gives to us.’
33 So the Israelites left the Lord's mountain. They travelled for three days. During that time, the Levites carried the Lord's Covenant Box in front of them. That was so that the Lord could show them where to make their camp. 34 And the Lord's cloud was over them during the day, whenever they started to travel from the camp.
35 Each time that the Covenant Box started to travel Moses said, ‘Be ready, Lord! Cause your enemies to run away in every direction!’ 36 When they stopped travelling, Moses said, ‘Return, Lord, to be near to the thousands of Israel's people.’
The sons of Korah wrote this special song for the music leader.
The city of God[a]
46 God is a strong place for us,
where he will keep us safe.
He will always help us
when troubles come.
2 So even when the earth shakes,
we will not be afraid.
And when the mountains fall down
into the deep sea,
we will still not be afraid.
3 If the sea makes dangerous waves,
so that even the mountains shake,
we will never be afraid.
Selah.
4 There is a river that runs into the city of God,
and it brings God's blessing to the people there.
That is the holy place
where the Most High God lives.
5 God is in that city.
Nothing can ever destroy it.
When dawn comes, God will be there to help it.
6 Nations are shouting with anger!
Kingdoms shake and fall.
God calls in a loud voice,
and even the earth melts!
7 The Lord Almighty is there to help us.
The God of Jacob keeps us safe.
Selah.
8 Come and see the great things
that the Lord has done.
He has brought terrible things to the earth!
9 All over the world, he causes wars to finish.
He destroys the soldiers' bows and spears.
He burns their shields in a fire.
10 He says, ‘Be still and quiet!
Understand that I am God.
I rule as king over the nations.
All the world will say that I am great.’
11 The Lord Almighty is there to help us.
The God of Jacob keeps us safe.
Selah.
The sons of Korah wrote this psalm for the music leader.
God rules the earth!
47 People from every nation,
clap your hands together.
Shout aloud to God,
with the sound of happy songs.
2 The Lord, the Most High God, is wonderful.
He is the great King
who rules over the whole earth.
3 He has won the battle against our enemies,
and those nations are now under our power.
4 He chose a special land to belong to us.
Jacob's descendants are proud of that land.
They are his own people that he loves.
Selah.
5 God has gone up to sit on his throne,
while the people shout aloud.
The Lord has gone up there,
while the trumpets make a loud noise.
6 Sing to praise God! Yes, sing!
Sing to praise our king! Sing!
7 God is the King who rules over the whole earth!
So sing a special song to praise him!
8 God rules over the nations.
God is sitting on his holy throne.
9 The leaders of the nations have met together.
They have joined with the people who serve Abraham's God.[b]
God has authority over all the world's rulers
and their armies.
Everyone should praise him,
for he is great!
The young woman:
8 I would like it if you were my brother
who drank milk from my mother's breasts!
If you were my brother,
if I found you outside, I could kiss you.
Nobody would think that I was doing something wrong.
2 I would lead you to my mother's house.
She is the one who has taught me.
I would give you wine with spices to drink,
the juice from my pomegranates.
3 His left hand is under my head.
His right hand brings me near to him.
4 Promise this to me, young women of Jerusalem:
Do not cause our love to wake up.
Do not cause it to become too strong
until the time is right.
The young women of Jerusalem:
5 Who is this who is coming from the desert?
Her head is on her lover's shoulder.
The young woman:
Under the apple tree,
I caused your love to wake.
That is the place where your mother became pregnant.
In that place too, your mother gave birth to you in pain.
6 Keep me near to you, like a seal over your heart.[a]
Keep me like a seal on your arm.
Keep me there always,
because love is as powerful as death.
It keeps hold of people as strongly as the grave does.
Love burns like a hot fire.
It burns with bright flames.
7 Even a flood of water cannot stop the flames.
Rivers of water cannot carry it away.
A man might try to give all his riches
to buy a woman's love.
But she would refuse to accept what he offers to her.
The young woman's brothers:
8 We have a younger sister.
Her breasts have not yet grown.
What will we do to help her
when it is the time for her to marry?
9 If she is a wall,
we will use silver to build towers on her.
But if she is a door,
we will use boards of cedar wood to keep the door shut.
The young woman:
10 I am a wall.
My breasts are like strong towers.
So my lover is happy when he looks at me.
11 King Solomon had a vineyard in Baal Hamon.
He allowed other people to take care of it.
They each paid him 1,000 silver coins for its fruit.
12 But my own vineyard belongs to me alone.
I take care of it myself.
You may keep the 1,000 silver coins, Solomon.
And I will give 200 silver coins to those who take care of the fruit.
The young man:
13 You have been staying in the garden
with your friends who are listening to you.
Let me too hear your voice!
The young woman:
14 Come quickly to me now, my lover!
Run like a gazelle or a young deer.
Come to the mountains that have sweet spices!
Jesus helps us as God's special priest
8 The most important thing that we are saying is this: In Jesus, we do have this kind of special priest. He has now sat down to rule with God in heaven. He sits at the right side of God, who rules with all authority. 2 He serves as priest in heaven on our behalf. He is in God's very special place, near to God himself. That is like the special place in the tabernacle of long ago. But it is not a tent that people have made. The Lord himself has made this special place, and it is the true one.
3 It is the duty of every special priest to offer gifts and sacrifices to God. So Jesus, as our special priest, must also have something to offer. 4 If he was living on earth, then he would not be a priest. There are already priests on earth who offer gifts to God. They do this in the way that Moses' law tells them. 5 But the way that those Levite priests work is only like a picture of the true things in heaven. It is like a shadow of what would happen in heaven. Long ago, when Moses was ready to make the tabernacle, God warned him about it. God said to Moses, ‘Be careful to make everything just like the plan which I showed you on the mountain.’[a]
6 But now God has given Jesus a much better way to serve him as a priest. The new agreement that God makes with his people is possible because of Jesus. Because of Jesus' work on our behalf, the new agreement is better than the old one. It is much better because it started with better promises.
7 If there had been nothing wrong with that first agreement, then nobody would have needed a second agreement. 8 But God did find something wrong with it. As a result, he said this to his people:
‘Listen to this! The Lord says:
A time will come when I make a new agreement with my people.
That is, with Israel's people and with Judah's people.[b]
9 It will not be like the old agreement that I made with their ancestors.
At that time, I brought my people safely out of Egypt.
I led them like a father who takes his child's hand.
But they did not continue to obey my agreement with them.
So I turned away from them.
That is what the Lord says.
10 But now the Lord says this:
After the time of that old agreement
I will make a new agreement with Israel's people.
It will be like this:
I will put my laws into their thoughts.
I will write my laws deep inside them.
I will be their God and they will be my people.
11 As a result, nobody will have to teach their friends or their family about me.
They will never need to say, “You should know the Lord.”
This is because everyone will already know me.
The most important people will know me,
as well as the least important people.
12 I will be kind to them.
I will forgive them for the wicked things that they have done.
I will not continue to think about their sins.
That is what the Lord says.’[c]
13 We see that God was speaking about a new agreement. That shows that he has caused the first agreement to become old. And anything that is becoming old like that will soon finish.[d]
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