M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Other rules
19 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Speak to Israel's people. They must be holy because I am holy. You must tell them that.
3 Each person must respect his mother and his father. All the people must keep the Sabbath as a day of rest. I am the Lord your God.
4 You must not worship idols. You must not use metal to make gods for yourselves. I am the Lord your God.
5 When a person sacrifices a friendship offering to the Lord, he must obey the rules. If he does, the Lord will accept the gift. 6 The people must eat the meat on the day that the person offers it. Or they must eat it on the next day. The person must burn any meat that he has not eaten after the second day. 7 On the third day, the meat is not clean. 8 If he eats the meat on the third day he makes unclean a gift that is holy to the Lord. You must send him away from the camp.
9 When a person cuts the plants in his field, he must not cut to the edge of the field. He must not pick up what he drops. 10 If a person grows fruit to make wine, he must not pick all the fruit. He must not pick up the fruit that drops. The fruit that drops is for the poor people. And it is for those who are foreign. I am the Lord your God.
11 You must not take something that belongs to another person. You must not say something that is not true. You must obey my rules.
12 You must not use the name of your God to say a promise. This will make my name unclean. I am the Lord.
13 You must not rob another person. You must not keep a slave's money until the morning.
14 You must not speak bad words against a person who is deaf. You must not put something in front of a blind person, to make them fall down. I am the Lord. Obey me.
15 You must be fair to other people when you judge them. You must not be more kind to a rich person than to a poor person. You must be fair to everyone.
16 You must not speak bad words about other people. If somebody is in danger of death, do not keep quiet if you know the truth. I am the Lord.
17 You must not think bad thoughts about another person. A person may do something that is wrong. You must tell him that he is doing a wrong thing. If you do, you will not be a part of the wrong thing.
18 You must not try to punish a person who has done something wrong against you. You must not continue to hate a person like that. Instead, you must love other people as much you love yourself. I am the Lord.
19 The people must obey God's rules. They must not let two different kinds of animals have sex together. They must not put two different kinds of seeds in one field. They must not make clothes from two different materials.
20 A slave girl belongs to a man. Another man must not have sex with her. If he does, he is doing a wrong thing. But the girl is not free. He has not bought her. You must punish them. But you must not kill them because the girl was not free. 21 The man must bring a male sheep to the door of the Tent of Meeting. It is an offering to the Lord. 22 The priest will sacrifice the gift to the Lord. The sacrifice will atone for the man's sin. Then the Lord will forgive the man.
23 When you go into Canaan, a person may plant a fruit tree there. But he must not eat the fruit for three years. 24 In the fourth year, the fruit is holy. It is an offering to praise the Lord. 25 In the fifth year, the people can eat the fruit. If they do this, the trees will give much fruit to the people. I am the Lord your God.
26 You must not eat any meat that has the blood in it. You must not do magic. You must not use magic to learn about future times.
27 A man must not cut the hair on the sides of his head. He must not cut the edges of his beard.
28 He must not cut his body to remember the dead people. He must not paint his body. I am the Lord your God.
29 He must not sell his daughter for sex. You would make her ashamed. If he does this, all the people might do the same. The whole land would become full of sin.
30 God has said what the people can do on the Sabbath day of rest. On the day of rest, the people must do only those things. They must respect the Lord's house. I am the Lord.
31 They must not ask people who do magic to help them. That would make Israel's people unclean. I am the Lord your God.
32 The people must stand up when they are with old people. They must respect the old people. They must give honour to their God. I am the Lord your God.
33 A foreign person may live in your land. You must be kind to him or to her. 34 People must love the person from a different country as they love themselves. They must remember the time when they lived in Egypt. Egypt was not their country. I am the Lord your God.
35 They must be fair when they measure length or weight or size. 36 They must use correct weights and measures. I am the Lord your God. I led you out of Egypt.
37 They must obey all my rules. I am the Lord.’
This is a song that David wrote.
God takes care of his people[a]
23 The Lord takes care of me,
like a shepherd with his sheep.
I have everything that I need.
2 He takes me to green fields where I can rest.
He leads me to streams of water where I can drink.
3 He gives me new strength in my life.
He is my guide to the right paths.
He does this to give honour to his name.
4 I may walk through a valley that is as dark as death.
But I will not be afraid of any danger.
This is because you are with me, Lord.
Your stick and your shepherd's pole protect me from danger.
5 You prepare a big meal for me while my enemies watch.
You put olive oil on my head.
You bless me so much that my cup is completely full.
6 I am sure that you will always be good to me.
You will love me all the days of my life.
That will never change.
I will live in the Lord's house for as long as I live.
This is a song that David wrote.
The great King[b]
24 The whole earth belongs to the Lord.
Everybody who lives in the world
and all the things in it belong to him.
2 The Lord built the foundation of the earth.
He built it on the seas and the rivers.[c]
3 Who may climb up the hill of the Lord?[d]
Who can stand in his holy place?[e]
4 Only the person who does what is right,
and who has pure thoughts.
He does not worship idols
and he does not make false promises.
5 The Lord will bless people who are like that.
God will save them.
He will say that they are not guilty of wrong things.
6 People like that come to God.
They want to please him.
They like to pray to the God of Jacob.
Selah.
7 Old gates of the city, wake up!
Open now, to leave a wide path!
Then the great king will come in.
8 Who is this great king?
He is the Lord,
who is strong and powerful.
He is the Lord,
who wins against his enemies.
9 Be ready, you old gates of the city!
Be ready to open wide!
Then the great king will come in.
10 Who is this great king?
He is the Almighty Lord.
Yes, he is the great king!
Selah.
Pleasure has no purpose
2 I said to myself, ‘I will enjoy the good things of life. I will see if that helps me to be happy.’ But I realized that this too had no purpose. 2 I said, ‘It is foolish to laugh all the time. If I only try to please myself, it does not really help me.’
3 I thought about wine. If I drink a lot of wine, I thought that might make me happy. I might enjoy foolish things. I used wisdom to think about this. People only live for a short time on the earth. I thought this might be the best way for people to enjoy life.
4 I also did a lot of great things for myself. I built houses. I planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and fields of trees. I planted many different kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made large pools of water. I used the water to help my trees to grow well. 7 I bought male slaves and female slaves. Their children became my slaves too. I had many animals, including sheep, goats and cows. I had more animals than any of the rulers in Jerusalem who lived before me. 8 I stored a lot of silver and gold for myself. Other kings and rulers paid me with many valuable things. I had men and women who would sing for me. I had many beautiful slave wives to give me as much pleasure as any man could want. 9 As a result, I was greater than anyone who had ever lived in Jerusalem before me. And I continued to follow the way of wisdom.
10 If I saw something that I wanted
I took it for myself.
If something would give me pleasure,
I did it.
So all my work made me very happy.
My hard work gave me things to enjoy.
11 Then I thought about everything that I had done,
and all my hard work.
After all that, I realized that none of these things had a purpose.
I was like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
None of the things on earth have any value.
12 Then I decided to think about wisdom.
I also thought about foolish ways to live.
I thought, ‘The next king will not do any more
than I have already done.’
13 I realized that it is better to be wise than foolish.
In the same way, the light is better than the dark.
14 Wise people can see where they are going.
Foolish people walk in the dark.
But at the end of their lives, there is no difference.
They both die.
15 Then I thought, ‘I will also die, as foolish people do.
So what value have I received from my great wisdom?’
I said to myself, ‘Wisdom too has no purpose.’
16 People forget about wise people
as quickly as they forget about fools.
One day, nobody will remember any of them.
It is true! As fools all have to die, wise people will also die.
17 So I hated life. Everything that happens on the earth only brings me trouble. Nothing has any purpose. It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.
Work has no purpose
18 I thought about all the hard work that I have done here on the earth. When I die, all the things that I worked so hard to get will belong to the next king. So I hated all my hard work. 19 The next king may be a wise man, or he may be a foolish man. Nobody knows! But all the things that I used my wisdom and hard work to get will belong to him. All this has no purpose. 20 So I was very upset when I thought about all my hard work on the earth. 21 Some people are very wise and clever. They use their knowledge to provide good things for themselves. But after they die, someone else will have all their things. Their good things will belong to someone who did not have to work to get them. This also has no purpose. It only brings trouble.
22 People have to do a lot of hard work on this earth and it causes them to worry. But in the end, they have nothing. 23 Every day, their work causes their bodies to suffer. At night, their minds do not have any rest. All this has no purpose.
24 So I decided what is best for us to do. We should be happy to eat and to drink. And we should enjoy our work. I realized that all these things are gifts from God. 25 Without God's help, nobody can eat anything or enjoy anything. 26 God gives wisdom, knowledge and joy to people who please him. Wicked people may work hard and become rich. But God takes away their valuable things and he gives them to someone who pleases him. So their hard work has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
False teachers
4 God's Spirit tells us clearly that, in later times, some people will stop believing the message about Jesus Christ. Instead, they will listen to bad spirits who want people to believe wrong things. They will listen to the message that comes from demons. 2 The people who teach those false things are hypocrites. They no longer understand that what they teach is wrong. 3 They say that it is wrong for anyone to marry. They tell people not to eat certain kinds of food. But God made those foods for people to eat! We should understand God's true message and trust him. Then we will receive the food that he has given us and we will thank him for it. 4 Everything that God has made is good. So we should not refuse anything that he has made. Instead, we should receive it and thank God for it. 5 God has said that it is good. We should pray that he will bless it. Because of that, it becomes good and clean for us to eat.[a]
How Timothy can be a good servant of Christ
6 You must explain these things to the believers and teach them God's true message. If you do that, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus. Continue to study the message about Jesus that you have already learned. That will help you to be strong. 7 But you must refuse to listen to false stories. Stories like that are not from God and only silly people believe them. Instead, learn to live well in a way that makes God happy. 8 People say this: ‘If a person works to make his body strong and healthy, that will help him a little. But if a person works to live in a way that makes God happy, that will help him much more. It will help that person in his life now on earth. It will also help him in his future life with God in heaven.’ 9 We know that those words are true. Everyone should agree with them. 10 So that is why we work to serve God well. We continue to work, even when we have trouble. We do this because we believe that God will help us. He is the one who lives for ever and who saves all people. Certainly, he saves those who are believers.
11 Teach people to do these things. 12 You are still a young man, but everyone should respect you as the leader in the church. Show the believers how they should live. Be a good example to them in these ways:
what you say,
what you do,
how you love people,
how you trust God,
and how you do only what is right.
13 Until I come, be careful to read the Bible aloud to people. Teach them to understand and to obey the message about Christ. 14 Remember the gift that God's Holy Spirit has given to you. You received that gift when the group of church leaders put their hands on you.[b] They spoke messages from God about how you would serve him. So do not stop using that gift from God.
15 Be careful to do all these things well. Then everyone will see that you are serving God better and better. 16 Think carefully about how you live, and about the message that you teach. Continue to teach God's true message. Then God will save not only you, but also those people who listen to you.
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