M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules for the priests
21 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Say this to the priests. They must not touch a dead body. That would make them unclean. 2 It may be the body of a person from their own family. The priest can touch the dead person if it is his mother or father. He can touch the dead person if it is his son or his daughter or his brother. 3 He can touch the dead person if it is his sister. But he must not touch her if she has a husband. 4 The priest must not touch a dead person who is married to a person of his family. That would make him unclean.
5 A priest must not cut all the hair from his head. He must not cut the sides of his beard. He must not cut his body. 6 A priest must be holy. He must not speak bad words about the Lord. He is the person who sacrifices the people's burnt offerings.
7 A priest must not marry a woman who has left her husband. He must not marry a woman if men have paid her to have sex with her. He must not marry a woman whose husband has sent her away. A priest must be holy. 8 A priest is holy because he sacrifices the people's offerings to God. A priest is holy because I, the Lord, am holy.
9 A priest's daughter must not have sex with men who pay her. That would make her unclean. She would take away her father's honour. If she does not obey, you must burn her in a fire.
10 They have poured special oil on the leader of the priests' head to show that he is greater than his brothers. He must wear special clothes. He must comb his hair. He must not tear his clothes. 11 He must not go into a room where there is a dead body. Even if it is the body of his parent, he must not go in. It will make him unclean. 12 He must not leave the house of God. He has the holy oil on his head. He must be separate. I am the Lord.
13 The leader of the priests must marry a woman who has not had sex before. 14 The woman must not have had a husband who died. She must not have a husband that she has left. Men must not have paid to have sex with her. She must be a woman from Israel's people, 15 so that their children will be holy. I am the Lord. I make priests holy.’
16 The Lord said to Moses, 17 ‘Talk to Aaron. Say, “A priest who does not have a perfect body must not sacrifice the burnt offerings to God.” This rule is for now and for all time. 18 A priest who cannot see must not sacrifice the food to God. A priest who cannot walk must not sacrifice food to God. A priest with a body that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. 19 A priest with a hand that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. A priest with a foot that is the wrong shape must not offer food to God. 20 A priest with a back that is not straight must not offer food to God. Neither must a priest who is very small offer a food gift. A priest who has an eye disease or a skin disease must not offer food to God. Neither must a priest offer food if his testicles are spoiled. 21 If a priest's son has something wrong with his body, he must not come near to the altar. He must not give the food offering to the Lord. 22 He can eat God's holy food and God's most holy food. 23 But none of Aaron's family who is not perfect can go near the holy curtain or the altar. He would make the holy places unclean. I am the Lord. I make them holy.’
24 Moses told all these rules to Aaron, to his sons and to all Israel's people.
This is a song that David wrote.
I do what is right
26 Lord, I always try to do what is right.
I continue to trust you all the time.
So please show that I am not guilty of wrong things.
2 Test me, Lord, and see how I have lived.
Look into my mind and see my thoughts.
3 I always know that I can trust you,
because of your faithful love.
So I live to please you.
4 I do not become a friend of people who tell lies.
I do not join together with hypocrites.
5 I keep away from any crowd of evil people.
I do not become a friend of wicked people.
6 I wash my hands as a sign
that I live in a pure way.[a]
I will worship you at your altar, Lord.
7 I will sing aloud to thank you.
I will tell people about all the great things that you have done.
8 Lord, I love the temple that is your house.
It is the place where we clearly see your glory.
9 Do not take away my life,
as you do with sinners.
Do not punish me with death,
as you do with murderers.
10 Those wicked people are always ready to do evil things.
They use bribes to get what they want.
11 But I always try to do what is right.
Please save me and be kind to me!
12 Now I stand in a safe place.
I will praise the Lord
when his people meet together to worship him.
This is a song that David wrote.
I trust God to keep me safe
27 The Lord gives me light in my life
and he makes me safe.
So I am not afraid of anyone!
The Lord takes care of my life.
Nobody can make me afraid!
2 Evil men are ready to attack me.
They want to destroy my body.
But when my enemies attack me,
they trip and fall to the ground!
3 Even if a whole army comes to fight against me,
I will not be afraid.
Even if they attack me in war,
I will continue to trust God.
4 There is one thing that I have asked the Lord to do for me.
This is the one thing that I really want:
I want to live in the Lord's house
all the days of my life.
Then I will clearly see the Lord's beauty.
I will pray to him in his temple.
5 When danger is near,
the Lord will keep me safe.
He will take care of me in his home.
He will put me in a safe place,
on the top of a high rock.
6 My enemies may be all round me,
but I will win against them.
They will see how strong I am!
I will offer sacrifices to the Lord in his temple.
I will be so happy that I will shout aloud!
Yes, I will sing to praise the Lord.
7 Lord, hear me when I call to you for help.[b]
Be kind to me and answer me.
8 I have heard you say to me, ‘Come near to me.’
So I will come and pray to you, Lord.
9 Please do not turn away from me.
I am your servant,
so do not be angry with me.
You have always helped me in the past,
so do not push me away now.
You are the one who saves me, God,
so do not turn away from me.
10 Even if my father and my mother leave me,
the Lord will still take care of me.
11 Lord, please teach me to follow your way.
Lead me along a good, safe path,
because my enemies are waiting to attack me.
12 Do not give me to my enemies.
They say false things against me,
so that they can destroy me.
13 But I surely believe
that I will see how good the Lord is!
I will know his love while I still live in this world.
14 Wait for the Lord to help you!
Be strong and brave.
Yes, wait for the Lord to help you!
Other things that have no purpose[a]
4 I saw again all the ways that people are cruel on the earth.
I saw some people who were crying because cruel people were hurting them.
There was nobody who could help them.
Nobody could rescue them from those cruel people.
2 I thought about people who are already dead.
I decided that they are happier than the people who are still alive.
3 But people who have not yet been born are even happier!
They have not seen the evil things that happen on the earth.
4 I also thought about the clever work that people do. I saw that people work hard because they are jealous of each other. They want to do better than other people. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
5 Foolish people refuse to work.
They sit and they do nothing.
So they become hungry and they die.
6 It is good to have only a little food and be happy.
That is better than too much hard work that gives you a lot of food.
It is as useless as somebody who tries to catch the wind.
7 I thought about something else on the earth that has no purpose.
8 There are people who live alone.
They have no friends, children or brothers.
They work hard every day.
They want to get more riches for themselves.
But they are never happy with the things that they have.
They should ask themselves, ‘Why am I working so hard?
Am I helping anybody?
I am not doing things that make me happy.’
Their work has no purpose. It only brings trouble to their lives.
9 Two people who work together
are better than one person who works alone.
They can help each other to work well.
10 If one of them falls down,
his friend can help him to get up.
But it is terrible if you fall down when you are alone.
There is nobody who can help you to stand up again.
11 Also, if two people sleep together,
they help each other to be warm.
But if you sleep alone,
it is difficult to be warm.
12 If you are alone, one person might attack you and hurt you.
But two people together can help each other to win the fight.
If you use three strings to make a rope,
it is difficult for anyone to break it.
13 A young man may be very poor. But if he is wise, he is better than a king who is foolish. When the king is old, he may not listen to his friends' advice. 14 A young man who is wise may even become king himself one day. He may have been in prison. He may have been born in a poor family in that kingdom. But he may later rule there as king.
15 I thought about all the people who live on the earth. I realized that one of them would also become king one day. He would rule instead of the other young man who became king. 16 Large crowds of people give him honour as their king. But in future years, nobody will praise him. I realized that this has no purpose. It is like somebody who tries to catch the wind.
About slaves who are believers
6 All slaves should know that it is right to respect their masters. Then other people will not insult God's name or the message that we teach. 2 Slaves who have masters who are also believers must continue to respect them. As believers, the slave and his master are like brothers together. But that slave must not refuse to obey his master because of that. Instead, he should work even better for his master. He should do that because he loves his master as a believer.
Teach these things and tell people to obey them.
About wrong teachers
3 Some people teach a false message that is different. Their message does not agree with the true message that our Lord Jesus Christ taught. They do not teach people to live in a way that pleases God. 4 People like that think that they are very clever. But they do not really understand anything. They like to argue about things which are not important. They like to quarrel about words. As a result, people become jealous of one another, and they become angry with each other. They insult other people and they think bad things about them. 5 Their minds have become confused and they argue all the time. They refuse to believe God's true message. They think that they will become rich if they say that they are serving God.
6 What makes our life really rich? We should serve God in a way that pleases him and be happy with the things that we have.[a] 7 When we were born, we brought nothing with us into this world. When we die, we cannot take anything with us out of the world. 8 So, if we have enough food and clothes, we should be happy with that.
9 But some people want to have lots of money. This causes them to do wrong things. They cannot get free from their bad ways, like an animal in a trap. They want many things for themselves. Their foolish thoughts hurt them and finally destroy their lives. 10 When people like to have lots of money, it causes all kinds of bad things to happen. Some people have stopped believing the message about Christ because they want to get more money. As a result, they have caused themselves to become sad with many troubles.
Continue to serve God
11 But you, Timothy, are a servant of God. So keep away from all bad things like that. Instead, always try to do what is right. Serve God in a way that pleases him. Choose to trust God and to love other people. Continue to be strong when you have trouble. Be kind to people. 12 Continue to believe God's true message. Be like someone who fights well to keep it safe. God has chosen you to live with him for ever. You stood in front of many people and said clearly that you believed in Jesus Christ. So live in a way that shows that you belong to him.
13 Christ Jesus himself spoke God's true message clearly when he stood in front of Pontius Pilate.[b] I now say this to you, in front of God who causes all things to be alive, and in front of Jesus. 14 You must obey the commands that you have received. Obey them completely without any mistake until our Lord Jesus Christ returns. 15 God will cause Christ to appear at the proper time. God is great, and he alone rules with all authority. He is the greatest King and the most powerful Lord. 16 God alone lives for ever. He lives in very bright light that nobody can come near. Nobody has ever seen God. Nobody is able to see him. So we praise him! He will rule for ever with great authority! Amen! This is true.
Rich people must be careful how they live
17 Warn those people who are rich with many things that belong to this world. Tell them not to think that they are more important than other people. They must not think that their money will keep them safe. They could easily lose all of it. Instead, they should trust God. He gives us many things, so that we can enjoy all of them. 18 Tell those rich people to do many good things to help other people. They should be very kind to other people and share their things with them. 19 In that way they will store valuable things for themselves in heaven. These things will be a strong help for them in the future. As a result, they will have true life with God.
Timothy must continue to teach the true message
20 Timothy, God has given you his true message to tell people. You must keep that message safe. Do not listen to people who say a lot of silly things that are not important to God. Those people think that they have special knowledge. But their ideas are against God's true message. 21 Some people have believed those wrong ideas and now they no longer trust God.
I pray that God will continue to be very kind to all of you.
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