M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Lampstand
8 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to Aaron and tell him, ‘Put the seven lamps where they can light the area in front of the lampstand.’”
3 Aaron did this, putting the lamps so they lighted the area in front of the lampstand; he obeyed the command the Lord gave Moses. 4 The lampstand was made from hammered gold, from its base to the flowers. It was made exactly the way the Lord had showed Moses.
The Levites Are Given to God
5 The Lord said to Moses, 6 “Take the Levites away from the other Israelites and make them clean. 7 This is what you should do to make them clean: Sprinkle the cleansing water on them, and have them shave their bodies and wash their clothes so they will be clean. 8 They must take a young bull and the grain offering of flour mixed with oil that goes with it. Then take a second young bull for a sin offering. 9 Bring the Levites to the front of the Meeting Tent, and gather all the Israelites around. 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the Israelites should put their hands on them.[a] 11 Aaron will present the Levites before the Lord as an offering presented from the Israelites. Then the Levites will be ready to do the work of the Lord.
12 “The Levites will put their hands on the bulls’ heads—one bull will be a sin offering to the Lord, and the other will be a burnt offering, to remove the sins of the Levites so they will belong to the Lord. 13 Make the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons and present the Levites as an offering to the Lord. 14 In this way you must set apart the Levites from the other Israelites; the Levites will be mine.
15 “Make the Levites pure, and present them as an offering so that they may come to work at the Meeting Tent. 16 They will be given completely to me from the Israelites; I have taken them for myself instead of the firstborn of every Israelite woman. 17 All the firstborn in Israel—people or animals—are mine. When I killed all the firstborn in Egypt, I set the firstborn in Israel aside for myself. 18 But I have taken the Levites instead of all the firstborn in Israel. 19 From all the Israelites I have given the Levites to Aaron and his sons so that they may serve the Israelites at the Meeting Tent. They will help remove the Israelites’ sins so they will belong to the Lord and so that no disaster will strike the Israelites when they approach the Holy Place.”
20 So Moses, Aaron, and all the Israelites obeyed and did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses. 21 The Levites made themselves clean and washed their clothes. Then Aaron presented them as an offering to the Lord. He also removed their sins so they would be pure. 22 After that, the Levites came to the Meeting Tent to work, and Aaron and his sons told them what to do. They did with the Levites what the Lord commanded Moses.
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “This command is for the Levites. Everyone twenty-five years old or older must come to the Meeting Tent, because they all have jobs to do there. 25 At the age of fifty, they must retire from their jobs and not work again. 26 They may help their fellow Levites with their work at the Meeting Tent, but they must not do the work themselves. This is the way you are to give the Levites their jobs.”
A Prayer for Help
For the director of music. A maskil of the sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard about you.
Our ancestors told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 With your power you forced the nations out of the land
and placed our ancestors here.
You destroyed those other nations,
but you made our ancestors grow strong.
3 It wasn’t their swords that took the land.
It wasn’t their power that gave them victory.
But it was your great power and strength.
You were with them because you loved them.
4 My God, you are my King.
Your commands led Jacob’s people to victory.
5 With your help we pushed back our enemies.
In your name we trampled those who came against us.
6 I don’t trust my bow to help me,
and my sword can’t save me.
7 You saved us from our foes,
and you made our enemies ashamed.
8 We will praise God every day;
we will praise your name forever. Selah
9 But you have rejected us and shamed us.
You don’t march with our armies anymore.
10 You let our enemies push us back,
and those who hate us have taken our wealth.
11 You gave us away like sheep to be eaten
and have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for nothing
and made no profit on the sale.
13 You made us a joke to our neighbors;
those around us laugh and make fun of us.
14 You made us a joke to the other nations;
people shake their heads.
15 I am always in disgrace,
and I am covered with shame.
16 My enemy is getting even
with insults and curses.
17 All these things have happened to us,
but we have not forgotten you
or failed to keep our agreement with you.
18 Our hearts haven’t turned away from you,
and we haven’t stopped following you.
19 But you crushed us in this place where wild dogs live,
and you covered us with deep darkness.
20 If we had forgotten our God
or lifted our hands in prayer to foreign gods,
21 God would have known,
because he knows what is in our hearts.
22 But for you we are in danger of death all the time.
People think we are worth no more than sheep to be killed.
23 Wake up, Lord! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t reject us forever.
24 Why do you hide from us?
Have you forgotten our pain and troubles?
25 We have been pushed down into the dirt;
we are flat on the ground.
26 Get up and help us.
Because of your love, save us.
The Friends Speak to the Woman
6 Where has your lover gone,
most beautiful of women?
Which way did your lover turn?
We will look for him with you.
The Woman Answers the Friends
2 My lover has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to feed in the gardens
and to gather lilies.
3 I belong to my lover,
and my lover belongs to me.
He feeds among the lilies.
The Man Speaks to the Woman
4 My darling, you are as beautiful as the city of Tirzah,
as lovely as the city of Jerusalem,
like an army flying flags.
5 Turn your eyes from me,
because they excite me too much.
Your hair is like a flock of goats
streaming down Mount Gilead.
6 Your teeth are white like sheep
just coming from their bath;
each one has a twin,
and none of them is missing.
7 Your cheeks behind your veil
are like slices of a pomegranate.
8 There may be sixty queens and eighty slave women
and so many girls you cannot count them,
9 but there is only one like my dove, my perfect one.
She is her mother’s only daughter,
the brightest of the one who gave her birth.
The young women saw her and called her happy;
the queens and the slave women also praised her.
The Young Women Praise the Woman
10 Who is that young woman
that shines out like the dawn?
She is as pretty as the moon,
as bright as the sun,
as wonderful as an army flying flags.
The Man Speaks
11 I went down into the orchard of nut trees
to see the blossoms of the valley,
to look for buds on the vines,
to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed.
12 Before I realized it, my desire for you made me feel
like a prince in a chariot.
The Friends Call to the Woman
13 Come back, come back, woman of Shulam.
Come back, come back,
so we may look at you!
The Woman Answers the Friends
Why do you want to look at the woman of Shulam
as you would at the dance of two armies?
6 So let us go on to grown-up teaching. Let us not go back over the beginning lessons we learned about Christ. We should not again start teaching about faith in God and about turning away from those acts that lead to death. 2 We should not return to the teaching about baptisms,[a] about laying on of hands,[b] about the raising of the dead and eternal judgment. 3 And we will go on to grown-up teaching if God allows.
4 Some people cannot be brought back again to a changed life. They were once in God’s light, and enjoyed heaven’s gift, and shared in the Holy Spirit. 5 They found out how good God’s word is, and they received the powers of his new world. 6 But they fell away from Christ. It is impossible to bring them back to a changed life again, because they are nailing the Son of God to a cross again and are shaming him in front of others.
7 Some people are like land that gets plenty of rain. The land produces a good crop for those who work it, and it receives God’s blessings. 8 Other people are like land that grows thorns and weeds and is worthless. It is about to be cursed by God and will be destroyed by fire.
9 Dear friends, we are saying this to you, but we really expect better things from you that will lead to your salvation. 10 God is fair; he will not forget the work you did and the love you showed for him by helping his people. And he will remember that you are still helping them. 11 We want each of you to go on with the same hard work all your lives so you will surely get what you hope for. 12 We do not want you to become lazy. Be like those who through faith and patience will receive what God has promised.
13 God made a promise to Abraham. And as there is no one greater than God, he used himself when he swore to Abraham, 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.”[c] 15 Abraham waited patiently for this to happen, and he received what God promised.
16 People always use the name of someone greater than themselves when they swear. The oath proves that what they say is true, and this ends all arguing. 17 God wanted to prove that his promise was true to those who would get what he promised. And he wanted them to understand clearly that his purposes never change, so he made an oath. 18 These two things cannot change: God cannot lie when he makes a promise, and he cannot lie when he makes an oath. These things encourage us who came to God for safety. They give us strength to hold on to the hope we have been given. 19 We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, sure and strong. It enters behind the curtain in the Most Holy Place in heaven, 20 where Jesus has gone ahead of us and for us. He has become the high priest forever, a priest like Melchizedek.[d]
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.