M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Offerings for sins that people did not really want to do
4 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Say to Israel's people, “A man may sin, when he did not really want to sin against the Lord. This is what that person must do.
3 The man may be a priest that you have anointed. If that is true, his sins will cause the people to sin. He must bring a young bull as a gift to the Lord. 4 The priest must bring the young bull to the door of the Lord's Tent of Meeting. He must put his hand on the animal's head. And then he must kill it in front of the Lord. 5 The priest that you have anointed must carry some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. 6 He must put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the holy curtain seven times in front of the Lord. 7 He must put some of the blood on the horns of the incense altar in front of the Lord. The priest must pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor in front of the altar. That altar is near the door outside the Tent of Meeting. 8 He must cut all the fat from inside the dead animal. 9 He must also cut out the kidneys and the best piece of the liver. He must take them from inside the animal. 10 He must burn the fat on the altar. The priest does this when the people give a friendship offering to God. 11 He must take up the skin and all the meat. He must take the head, the legs and all the inside pieces. He must include the stomach. 12 The priest must take all the pieces to a clean place outside the camp. He must put them on the ashes and he must burn them on a wood fire.
13 All of the people might do bad things when they did not really want to do them. They might not obey some of the Lord's rules. They will have sinned, even if they did not know this. 14 When they do know about it they must bring a young bull to the Tent of Meeting. The animal is a sin offering. 15 The leaders of the people must put their hands on the young bull's head. Then they must kill it in front of the Lord. 16 The priest will take some of the blood into the Tent of Meeting. 17 He will put his finger in the blood. He must shake it in front of the Lord and the holy curtain seven times. 18 He will take some of the blood. Then he will put it on the horns of the altar that is in front of the Lord. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the floor. He must pour it in front of the burnt offering altar. This altar is outside the door of the Tent of Meeting. 19 The priest will cut all the fat from the dead animal. And he will burn all the fat on the altar of burnt offering. 20 He will do with this bull what he did with the bull for the sin offering. This is how the priest will atone for the sins of the people. God will forgive them when the priest does this. 21 The priest will take the dead animal outside the camp. He will put it on the ashes from the altar fire. He will burn the animal as he did the first bull. This is the sin offering for all the people.
22 A leader might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He has sinned if he does not obey one of the Lord's rules. 23 People will tell him that he has done wrong things. So then he must give a male goat to God. The animal must be perfect. 24 He must put his hand on the goat's head and then he must kill it. He must do this where they kill animals in front of the Lord for the burnt offering. It is a sin offering. 25 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the dead animal. He will put some of it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use onto the ground. He will pour it in front of the altar. 26 Then the priest will cut all the fat from the goat. And he will burn it on the altar. He will do this as he did for the friendship offering. This is how the priest will make atonement for the leader's sin. Then God will forgive the leader.
27 One of the people might do bad things when he did not really want to do them. He did not obey one of the Lord's rules. That person has sinned. 28 They will tell him that he has done bad things. Then he must give a female goat to God. The animal must be perfect. 29 He must put his hand on the goat's head. Then he must kill it by the altar of burnt offering. 30 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the goat. He will put some of it on the altar's corners. He will pour out the blood that he did not use. He will pour it onto the ground in front of the altar. 31 The priest will cut all the fat from the goat as he did with the friendship offering. And he will burn it on the altar. This will make atonement for the wrong things that the person has done. The smell of it while it is burning will give the Lord pleasure. Then the Lord will forgive the person.
32 If a person wants to give a young sheep to God, it must be a female. It must be perfect. 33 He must put his hand on the animal's head. He will kill it at the altar of burnt offering. 34 The priest will put his finger in the blood of the sheep. He will take some of it and he will put it on the horns of the altar. He will pour the blood that he did not use on the ground in front of the altar. 35 The priest will cut all the fat from the sheep as he did with the friendship offering. He will burn it on the altar. He must burn it on top of the burnt offerings. This is how the priest will make atonement for the person's sin. Then the Lord will forgive the person.
The two paths[a]
1 If someone does not do what wicked people tell him to do,
if he does not join with sinners,
if he does not meet with those who laugh at God,
God has blessed that person!
2 He is happy when he obeys the Law of the Lord.[b]
He thinks about God's Law during the day and at night.
3 He will become like a tree that grows beside streams of water.
It gives its fruit at the right season.
Its leaves do not fall off.
Everything that person does will have a good result.
4 But wicked people are as empty as chaff.
The wind blows them away.[c]
5 So they will not go free when God judges them.
Sinners cannot join with God's people,
the people who are right with God.[d]
6 The Lord takes care of people who respect him.
But wicked people are living in a way that will take them to a bad end.
The Lord's king rules[e]
2 Why are nations making plans to turn against the Lord?
All their plans will fail!
2 Kings and rulers decide to work together,
to fight against the Lord
and the king that he has chosen.
3 They say, ‘We will not accept their authority over us!
We will get free from their power!’[f]
4 The Lord who sits on his throne in heaven laughs at them.
He says that their plans are useless.
5 Then he becomes very angry and he frightens them.
He warns them with strong words and he says,
6 ‘I have put my king on his throne in Zion.[g]
I have put him on my holy mountain.’
7 I will tell you what the Lord has promised to me, his king.
He said to me, ‘You are my son.
Yes, today I have become your father![h]
8 Ask me and see what I will do!
I will give you all the nations on the earth.
They will all belong to you.
9 You will break them with an iron sceptre,
as if they are clay pots.’
10 So, you kings, think carefully!
You who rule the nations of the world, learn this lesson:
11 Respect the Lord and serve him.
Enjoy his rule with fear!
12 Bend down low in front of his son!
If not, the Lord will be angry.
He will quickly become very angry.
You will suddenly die!
But as for those who serve the Lord as their king,
he blesses them and he takes care of them all.
19 It is better to be poor and honest,
than to be a fool who speaks lies.
2 If you want to do something but you do not know how to do it,
that is dangerous!
If you hurry to do it, you will get into trouble.
3 Some people do silly things and so they destroy themselves.
Then they get angry with the Lord.
4 Rich people can easily find new friends.
But poor people will easily lose their friends.
5 If you tell lies in court, the judge will certainly punish you.
You will not go free!
6 Many people want an important person to like them.
Everyone wants to be the friend of someone who gives lots of gifts.
7 If someone is poor, all his family hate him.
His friends stay away from him.
Even if he goes to ask them for help,
he cannot find them anywhere.
8 If you learn to be wise,
it shows that you love yourself.
If you understand what is right,
you will do well.
9 If you tell lies in court, the judge will certainly punish you.
That will be the end of you!
10 Fools should not live like rich people.
Even worse, slaves should never have authority over rulers.
11 If someone is wise, he controls his anger.
When anyone hurts him, he is careful to forget it.
12 When the king is angry, he makes people afraid,
like a lion that roars.
But when he is pleased with you,
that is like dew on fresh grass.
13 A foolish child will destroy his father.
A woman who quarrels with her husband is like rain that never stops.
14 Your parents may give you riches and a house to live in.
But only the Lord can give you a wise wife.
15 A lazy person cannot wake up from sleep.
If he does no work, he will always be hungry.
16 If you obey God's commands, you will keep your life safe.
If you do not respect his teaching, you will die.
17 If you are kind to poor people, you are lending money to the Lord.
He will pay back the debt to you.
18 When your children do wrong things,
warn them while you still have the chance.
If you do not punish them,
you are helping them to go to an early death.
19 Anyone who cannot control his anger is always getting into trouble.
If you try to help him once, you will have to do it every time.
20 Accept advice and good teaching.
Then you will become wise one day.
21 You may have lots of ideas about what you want to do.
But it is the Lord's plans that are important.
22 We all want other people to show faithful love.
It is better to be poor than to deceive other people.
23 If you respect and obey the Lord,
you will enjoy life.
You will have peace in your mind
and no trouble will destroy you.
24 A lazy person pushes his hand into his bowl of food.
But then he is too lazy to lift his hand up to his mouth.
25 If you beat a proud fool,
a silly person may learn to be careful.
If you warn a wise person,
he himself will learn a lesson.
26 Anyone who robs his father or chases away his mother
is a bad son who brings shame to his family.
27 My child, never stop learning about what is right.
If you stop learning, you will soon forget what you already know.
28 If someone tells lies in court, he is laughing at justice.
Evil things are food that wicked people love to eat.
29 People who laugh at what is right will receive their punishment.
Fools will be beaten, as they deserve.
2 I want you to know that I am doing a difficult work on your behalf. I am also working to help the people at Laodicea and other people who have never met me. 2 I want all the believers to become strong in their spirits. I want them to help each other because they love one another. Then God will bless them very much, because they understand God's secret message very well. They will be completely sure of it. And they will know Christ himself, who is God's secret. 3 Christ is the one who holds everything that makes people wise. He helps people to know the true message that God had hidden.
4 I am telling you these things so that false teachers will not deceive you. They may teach ideas that seem good, but do not listen to them. 5 My body is not there with you, but I think about you a lot. I hear that you are living and working well together. I also hear that you continue to trust Christ strongly. That makes me very happy.
How Christians should live
6 You have accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord. So remember that you belong to him as you live your lives. 7 Get your strength from Christ himself, so that you become stronger and stronger.[a] Continue to believe the true message that we taught you. And thank God very much for everything.
8 Be careful that you do not believe any false teachers. The ideas that they teach may seem clever. But they really want to deceive you. They are ideas that have come from the human minds of our ancestors. Or ideas that come from spirits that belong to this world. They are not the true message about Christ. 9 The whole nature of God himself lives in Christ, in his human body. 10 And because you are united with Christ, you are now complete. He is the one who rules over everything that has power or authority.
11 Also, because you are united with Christ, you truly belong to God's people. No person has circumcised you to show this. It is like Christ himself has circumcised you, to show that you belong to God. It is like he has cut off your old nature which made you do bad things.[b] 12 When they baptized you, it was like God buried you with Christ.[c] And God also raised you to a new life with Christ. You believed that God has great power to do that. You believed that God raised Jesus to life after he died. Because you believed, God raised you to have a new life.
13 At one time, you were dead in your spirits, because of the wrong things that you did. God had not cut off your old nature. You did not belong to his people. But now God has caused you to become alive with Christ. He has forgiven us for all the wrong things that we have done. 14 We are guilty of many wrong things that are against God's laws. But Christ died on the cross on our behalf. He paid the debt of our sins. It is like he has destroyed the list of all the debts that we should pay to God. 15 On the cross, Christ took away the power of the bad spirits that have authority to rule people. He showed clearly that he himself has won against them. Now everyone can see that those bad spirits have no power.
Do not obey human ideas
16 Some people may tell you that it is wrong for you to eat or to drink certain things. Or they make rules about special festival days, about new moons, or about the Jewish days for rest. Do not agree with people like that. 17 Rules like that are only like shadows of real things that would happen later. But now we have what is real, Christ himself!
18 Some people may tell you that you must always serve other people like a slave. They may tell you that you must worship angels. Do not let those people speak bad things against you. They like to talk a lot about the special things that God has shown them. They think that they are very clever. But their ideas only come from human minds. 19 False teachers like that do not receive their message from Christ. As God's people, we are like a body and Christ is like our head. He is the one who causes the whole body to be strong. He helps us to work well together, like the different parts of a body. Then we can all grow properly, because it is God who is helping us to grow.
20 Remember that your old nature has died with Christ. So the powerful spirits that rule this world no longer have any authority over you. You do not need to serve them, because you do not belong to this world now. You do not need to obey their rules. 21 They teach, ‘Do not touch things like that!’ Or, ‘Do not eat that kind of food!’ Or, ‘Keep away from that thing!’ 22 Rules like that are only about things that spoil when you use them.[d] They are rules that come from human ideas. 23 They teach you ideas about what you must do to worship God. They teach you to serve other people like a slave. They say that you must hurt yourself. You must show that you control your body. Rules like that may seem to be wise, but really they are not worth anything. They cannot stop our weak human nature from doing the bad things that we want to do.
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