M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Holiness for All the Priests

21 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Tell the priests, Aaron’s sons: None of you should become unclean by touching one of your relatives who has died. ² However, you are allowed to become unclean when one of your nearest relatives dies. These relatives include your mother, father, son, daughter, or brother, ³ and especially an unmarried virgin sister who is still close to you. ⁴ As the head of your people, you should never become unclean. That would make you unholy.

⁵ “You should never mourn by shaving bald spots on your heads, shaving the edges of your beards, or slashing your bodies.

⁶ “Be Elohim’s holy men, and don’t dishonor the name of your Elohim. Be holy because you bring sacrifices by fire to Yahweh. It is the food of your Elohim. ⁷ You should never marry prostitutes, those who have lost their virginity, or divorced women because a priest is Elohim’s holy man. ⁸ Be holy because you offer the food of your Elohim. Be holy because I, Yahweh, am holy. I set you apart as holy. ⁹ When a priest’s daughter dishonors herself by becoming a prostitute, she dishonors her father. She must be burned.

Holiness for the Chief Priest

¹⁰ “The priest who is anointed with oil and wears the chief priest’s clothes is chief over his brothers. He must never mourn by leaving his hair uncombed or by tearing his clothes. ¹¹ He must never go near any dead bodies or become unclean, even for his father or mother. ¹² He must not leave the holy tent of his Elohim. If he does, he will be dishonoring it, because he is dedicated with the anointing oil of his Elohim. I am Yahweh.

¹³ “The anointed priest must marry a virgin. ¹⁴ He must never marry a widow, a divorced woman, a woman who has lost her virginity, or a prostitute. He may only marry a virgin from his own people. ¹⁵ He must not dishonor his children among his people because I, Yahweh, set him apart as holy.”

¹⁶ Yahweh spoke to Moses, ¹⁷ “Tell Aaron: If any of your descendants (now or in future generations) has a physical defect, he must never bring food to offer to Elohim. ¹⁸ Indeed, no one who has a physical defect may ever come near the altar. That means anyone who is blind or lame, who has a disfigured face, a deformity, ¹⁹ or a crippled hand or foot, ²⁰ who is a hunchback or dwarf, who has defective sight, skin diseases, or crushed testicles. ²¹ If a descendant of the priest Aaron has a physical defect, he must never bring sacrifices by fire to Yahweh. He has a defect. He must never bring food to offer to Elohim. ²² He may eat the food of his Elohim—what is holy and what is very holy. ²³ However, he must never come up to the canopy or to the altar, since he has a physical defect. He must never dishonor the holy places because I, Yahweh, set them apart as holy.”

²⁴ So Moses spoke to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites.

Psalm 26

By David.

Psalm 27

By David.

Better Not to Have Been Born

4 Next, I turned to look at all the acts of oppression that make people suffer under the sun. Look at the tears of those who suffer! No one can comfort them. Their oppressors have all the power. No one can comfort those who suffer. ² I congratulate the dead, who have already died, rather than the living, who still have to carry on. ³ But the person who hasn’t been born yet is better off than both of them. He hasn’t seen the evil that is done under the sun.

Hard Work Versus Laziness

⁴ Then I saw that all hard work and skillful effort come from rivalry. Even this is pointless. It’s like trying to catch the wind. ⁵ A fool folds his hands and wastes away. ⁶ One handful of peace and quiet is better than two handfuls of hard work and of trying to catch the wind.

Those Who Are All Alone

⁷ Next, I turned to look at something pointless under the sun: ⁸ There are people who are all alone. They have no children or other family members. So there is no end to all the hard work they have to do. Their eyes are never satisfied with riches. But they never ask themselves why they are working so hard and depriving themselves of good things. Even this is pointless and a terrible tragedy.

Two Are Better Than One

⁹ Two people are better than one because together they have a good reward for their hard work. ¹⁰ If one falls, the other can help his friend get up. But how tragic it is for the one who is all alone when he falls. There is no one to help him get up. ¹¹ Again, if two people lie down together, they can keep warm, but how can one person keep warm? ¹² Though one person may be overpowered by another, two people can resist one opponent. A triple-braided rope is not easily broken.

Rulers and Fickle Citizens

¹³ A young man who is poor and wise is better than an old, foolish king who won’t take advice any longer.

¹⁴ A young man came out of prison to rule as king, even though he had been born in poverty in that same kingdom. ¹⁵ I saw all living people moving about under the sun. They sided with the second young man, the king’s successor. ¹⁶ There was no end to all those people, everyone whom he led.^[a] But those who will come later will not be happy with the successor. Even this is pointless. It’s like trying to catch the wind.

6 All slaves who believe must give complete respect to their own masters. In this way no one will speak evil of God’s name and what we teach. ² Slaves whose masters also believe should respect their masters even though their masters are also believers. As a result, believers who are slaves should serve their masters even better because those who receive the benefit of their work are believers whom they love.

Guidelines for Living a Godly Life

Teach and encourage people to do these things. ³ Whoever teaches false doctrine and doesn’t agree with the accurate words of our Lord Yeshua Christ and godly teachings ⁴ is a conceited person. He shows that he doesn’t understand anything. Rather, he has an unhealthy desire to argue and quarrel about words. This produces jealousy, rivalry, cursing, suspicion, ⁵ and conflict between people whose corrupt minds have been robbed of the truth. They think that a godly life is a way to make a profit.

⁶ A godly life brings huge profits to people who are content with what they have. ⁷ We didn’t bring anything into the world, and we can’t take anything out of it. ⁸ As long as we have food and clothes, we should be satisfied.

⁹ But people who want to get rich keep falling into temptation. They are trapped by many stupid and harmful desires which drown them in destruction and ruin. ¹⁰ Certainly, the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. Some people who have set their hearts on getting rich have wandered away from the Christian faith and have caused themselves a lot of grief.

¹¹ But you, man of God, must avoid these things. Pursue what God approves of: a godly life, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. ¹² Fight the good fight for the Christian faith. Take hold of everlasting life to which you were called and about which you made a good testimony in front of many witnesses.

¹³ In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and in the sight of Christ Yeshua, who gave a good testimony in front of Pontius Pilate, ¹⁴ I insist that, until our Lord Yeshua Christ appears, you obey this command completely. Then you cannot be blamed for doing anything wrong. ¹⁵ At the right time God will make this known. God is the blessed and only ruler. He is the King of kings and Lord of lords. ¹⁶ He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honor and power belong to him forever! Amen.

¹⁷ Tell those who have the riches of this world not to be arrogant and not to place their confidence in anything as uncertain as riches. Instead, they should place their confidence in God who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. ¹⁸ Tell them to do good, to do a lot of good things, to be generous, and to share. ¹⁹ By doing this they store up a treasure for themselves which is a good foundation for the future. In this way they take hold of what life really is.

²⁰ Timothy, guard the Good News which has been entrusted to you. Turn away from pointless discussions and the claims of false knowledge that people use to oppose the Christian faith. ²¹ Although some claim to have knowledge, they have abandoned the faith.

God’s good will^[a] be with all of you.