M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
22 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Israel's people give gifts to God. Those gifts are holy. Tell Aaron and his sons that those things are holy. Tell them that they must remember that. They must give honour to my name. I am the Lord.
3 One of your sons may not be clean. That son must not come near the Lord's holy offerings. But perhaps he may not obey my rule. He might go near to the holy gifts. The priests who are clean must punish him. They must send him away. He must go from God's house. I am the Lord. This rule is for now and for all time. 4 If a son of Aaron has a skin disease, he must not eat the holy gifts. If pus is coming from his body, he is not clean. He must not eat the holy offerings until he is clean. He might touch something that has touched a dead body. Or if he touches an unclean man, he will become unclean. The man may be unclean because semen is coming from his body. 5 Aaron's son might touch an animal that moves on its stomach. Or he might touch a person who is not clean. If he does, Aaron's son will be unclean. 6 The son of Aaron who touches any of these things will be unclean until evening. He must not eat any of the holy gifts until he washes his body. 7 When the sun goes down, he will be clean. He can eat the holy gifts. They are his food. 8 He might find something that is dead. He must not eat it. He must not eat anything that an animal has torn. It will make him unclean. I am the Lord.
9 Aaron's sons must obey God's rules. If they do not obey them, it is a sin. They will die. I am the Lord who makes people holy. 10 Only a person who is from the priest's family can eat the holy gifts. Another person who is living in the priest's house must not eat the holy gifts. If a person is being paid to work for the priest, he must not eat the holy gifts. 11 A slave can eat the holy gifts if he was born in the priest's house. Or he can eat the holy gifts if the priest bought him. 12 A priest's daughter might marry a man who is not a priest. If she has done that, she must not eat the holy food. 13 A priest's daughter's husband might send her away. Or her husband might die. She might not have any children. She may go back to live in her father's house. Then she can eat her father's food.
14 A person might make a mistake and eat a holy gift. He must give back to the priest the same food. He must also give one fifth more. 15 The priest must not give the Lord's holy gifts to people who are not from Aaron's family. The gifts would become unclean. 16 If the people eat them they are sinning. They will have to pay for their sin. I am the Lord and I make them holy.’
Offerings that the Lord will not accept
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 ‘Say this to Aaron, to his sons and to all the people. If any person gives a gift to the Lord, 19 he must give a bull, a sheep or a goat. The gift may be for a promise, or to thank God for something or for a friendship offering. The animal must be perfect. 20 They must not give any animal that is not perfect. The Lord will not accept that animal. 21 When a person brings an animal to the Lord as a special gift, it must be perfect. If it is, God will accept it. 22 A person must not give to the Lord an animal that cannot see. The animal must not have a skin disease. And pus must not be coming from its body. The person must not burn an animal to the Lord on the altar that is not perfect. 23 A person may give a bull or a sheep with a body that is the wrong shape. He can use it as an offering to eat with his friends (friendship offering). But God will not take this animal as a gift for a promise. That gift must be perfect. You must not put on the altar an animal that is not perfect. 24 A person must not give a gift to the Lord of an animal that has something wrong with its testicles. 25 This rule is for Israel's people. You must not take animals from foreigners and then offer them to God as sacrifices. God will not accept them on your behalf, because animals like that are not perfect.’
26 The Lord said to Moses, 27 ‘When a cow or a sheep or a goat is born, it must stay with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day the people can give it as a burnt offering to the Lord. 28 They must not kill a cow or a sheep and its baby on the same day.
29 When they sacrifice an animal to thank the Lord, they must sacrifice it in the proper way. This will give the Lord pleasure. 30 They must eat it on the day that they kill it. They must not keep any of it until the next day. I am the Lord.
31 The people must obey my rules. I am the Lord. 32 They must give honour to my holy name. My people must believe that I am holy. I am the Lord. I make people holy. 33 I brought you out of Egypt and I became your God. I am the Lord.’
This is a song that David wrote.
God answers prayer
28 Lord, I am calling to you for help.
You are my safe place, like a high rock.[a]
Please do not refuse to listen to me.
If you do not answer me,
I will be like those who are going down
into the deep hole of death.
2 Hear me when I call to you for help.
Please be kind to me.
I am lifting up my hands
towards your Most Holy Place.[b]
3 Do not pull me away to punishment,
as you do with wicked people.
Those people do evil things.
They say kind words to their friends,
but really they want to hurt them.
4 Punish them for their sins.
Give back to them what they deserve!
Yes, punish them!
That is the fair thing to do.
5 They do not want to understand
the things that the Lord has done,
or the things that he has made.
The Lord will punish them,
and he will remove them for ever.
6 We should praise the Lord!
He has been kind to me,
when I called to him for help.
7 The Lord makes me strong.
He keeps me safe like a shield.
I trust in him completely,
and he has helped me.
I am very happy,
and I will thank him with my songs.
8 The Lord makes his people strong.
He protects the king that he has chosen.
The Lord keeps him safe.[c]
9 Lord, save your people!
Bless the people who belong to you!
Take care of your people like a shepherd.
Always carry them in your arms!
This is a song that David wrote.
The storm[d]
29 All you angels in heaven,
say how great the Lord is!
Say that the Lord rules with power!
2 Say that the Lord's name is great!
Worship the Lord for who he is,
and remember that he is holy.
3 The voice of the Lord shouts over the water.
The God of glory makes the noise of thunder.
The Lord appears over the great sea.[e]
4 The Lord's voice is powerful.
It has the authority of a king!
5 When the Lord shouts,
even the cedar trees break!
Yes! The Lord breaks the great cedar trees of Lebanon.[f]
6 He makes Lebanon jump like a calf.
He causes Hermon mountain to shake
like a young bull jumps.
7 The Lord's voice makes fire
like lightning in the sky.
8 When the Lord shouts,
the desert shakes!
He makes the Kadesh desert shake!
9 When the Lord shouts,
the big oak trees bend over.
The leaves fall off all the trees in the forests.
But in his temple,
everyone says, ‘He is great!’
10 The Lord rules as king over the deep waters.[g]
The Lord will be king for ever.
11 The Lord makes his people strong.
The Lord blesses his people with peace.
Think before you speak
5 When you go to God's temple, be careful what you do. Listen carefully when you come near to God. Do not offer sacrifices in the way that foolish people do. They do not even know that they are doing something bad.
2 You should not speak too soon.
Think carefully before you make a promise to God.
God is in heaven and you are here on the earth.
So do not say too much.
3 If you worry about many things,
you will have many dreams.
If you talk too much,
you will say foolish things.
4 If you make a promise to God,
quickly do what you have promised.
God is not pleased with foolish people.
So give what you have promised to give.
5 It is better not to promise anything
than to promise something and then not do it.
6 Do not say things that cause you to do something wrong. Do not say to the priest, ‘My promise was a mistake.’ That would make God angry with you. He might destroy everything that you have worked to get for yourself. 7 If you dream all the time or if you talk all the time, that has no purpose. Instead, respect God and obey him.
Money does not make you happy
8 You may see a place where poor people are suffering. Powerful people may be hurting them. Do not be surprised if you see that. The judges may not be doing what is right and fair. That happens because the government's officers have to obey people who are more important than them. 9 All of them take something for themselves from the land. The king himself receives his share of the crops.
10 People who love money never have enough.
They may get more and more valuable things,
but they are never happy.
This also has no purpose.
11 As a person's money becomes more,
there are more people who want a share of it.
Money does not help the people who have a lot of it.
They see it, but it quickly disappears.
12 Someone who has worked hard all day will sleep well at night.
That is true even if they have not had much food to eat.
But the rich man worries about his riches.
So he does not sleep well.
13 I have seen another terrible thing that happens on the earth.
Some people may store their riches,
but it does not help them in a time of trouble.
14 Something may happen in the future
that causes their money to disappear.
After they die,
no money remains for their children.
15 When people are born,
they bring nothing with them.
When they die,
they take nothing away with them.
All their hard work finally leaves them with nothing.
16 This is also a terrible thing to happen.
People leave this earth with nothing,
as they came into it with nothing.
All their hard work has been useless,
like someone who tries to catch the wind.
17 Even if people are rich, they do not enjoy their food.
They suffer all through their lives.
They are upset, angry and sick.
18 But I realized that there is one good thing for people to do. We should be happy to eat and to drink. And we should enjoy the hard work that we do on the earth. That is what God wants us to do during the short time that he has given us on this earth. 19 God gives some people a lot of money and valuable things. He helps them to enjoy those things and to be happy with their work. All of this is a gift from God. 20 People like that do not think a lot about what has happened in their lives. God helps them to be happy as they are busy with their work.
Paul thanks God for Timothy
1 This letter is from me, Paul. God chose me to be an apostle of Christ Jesus. God sent me to tell people about the true life that he has promised us. We receive this life when we belong to Christ Jesus.
2 I am writing to you, Timothy. You are like my own child, and I love you very much.
I pray that God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord will continue to help you and be kind to you. I pray that they will give you peace in your mind.
3 Like my ancestors, I serve God in a good way, that I know is right. When I pray to God, at night and during the day, I always remember to pray for you. And I thank God for you. 4 I remember how you wept when I said ‘goodbye’ to you. I want to see you again very much, so that I may be completely happy. 5 I remember how you really believe in Christ. Your grandmother, Lois, and your mother, Eunice, already believed in Christ before you did. Now I am sure that you yourself also really trust him. 6 For that reason, I want you to remember the gift that God gave you when I put my hands on you.[a] Use that gift more and more to serve God well. 7 Be strong, because God has given us his Spirit. And his Spirit does not cause us to be afraid. Instead, his Spirit causes us to be powerful to serve God. He helps us to love God and other people. And he helps us to control ourselves properly.
Paul tells Timothy to be a brave teacher for Christ
8 So do not be ashamed of the message about our Lord that we tell people. And do not be ashamed of me because I am in a prison. I am a prisoner because I serve Christ. You must understand that you will have trouble because you tell people the good news about Jesus Christ. So be ready to have the same kind of trouble as I have. Let God make you strong when you have trouble. 9 God is the one who has saved us. He has chosen us to serve him with good, clean lives. He did not save us because of any good things that we have done. He chose to do it because he is very kind. He decided to do that before time began, because of what Christ Jesus would do for us. 10 Now Christ Jesus has come to save us, and we have seen how kind God is. Christ has destroyed death's power over us. We have heard the good news that he brought to us. So now we understand about life with God for ever.
11 That is the same good news that God has chosen me to tell to people. He has sent me as his apostle to teach his message to people. 12 That is why I have these troubles. But I am not ashamed to be in prison. I have believed in Christ and I know him well. I know that I can trust him to keep his message safe. God has given me the authority to speak that message to people at this time.[b] Christ has the power to keep it safe until that great day when he comes back.[c]
13 You have heard me tell you about God's true message. Let those words be an example to you, so that you also teach what is true. Do this because you belong to Christ Jesus. Continue to trust him and to love his people. 14 God has given you his good message to keep safe. God's Holy Spirit, who lives in us, will help you to keep it safe.
Onesiphorus
15 You know that almost all the believers in Asia region have turned against me. They include Phygelus and Hermogenes.[d]
16 But Onesiphorus has stayed to help me. I pray that the Lord will be kind to his family. He often came to help me not to be sad. I am in prison, but he was not ashamed to help me. 17 When he came here to Rome, he looked carefully for me until he found me. 18 I pray that the Lord will be kind to Onesiphorus on that great day when he judges people.[e] You know very well how much Onesiphorus helped me in Ephesus.
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