M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Offerings to the Lord
28 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites that they must give their gifts to God at the proper time. The smell of the gifts when they burn will make him happy. 3 You must say to them, “This is the offering by fire that you must offer to the Lord: It must be two male lambs that are one year old. They must not have anything wrong with them. That is the burnt offering for every day. 4 You must give one lamb in the morning and one lamb in the evening. 5 With the lambs, you must also offer to God one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with one litre of good olive oil. 6 It is a regular burnt offering that God told you about. He told you about it on Sinai mountain. It is an offering by fire to the Lord. The smell as it burns makes the Lord happy. 7 Then the drink offering with it will be one litre of wine for each lamb. In God's Holy Tent, you must pour out a drink offering of the best wine to the Lord. 8 You must offer the other lamb when it begins to get dark. Offer it with a grain offering and a drink offering like the offerings in the morning. You must give it as an offering by fire. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy.
9 Then on the Sabbath day, you must offer two male lambs that are one year old. They must not have anything wrong with them. And you must offer 2 kilograms of good flour. Mix that with oil as a grain offering. And you must give the proper drink offering with it. 10 This is the burnt offering for every Sabbath. But you must also give the regular burnt offering with its proper drink offering.
11 Also, on the first day of every month, you must give a burnt offering to the Lord. It must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs. The lambs must be one year old and they must not have anything wrong with them. 12 With each bull and with the male sheep, you must give a grain offering. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with each bull. Mix together 2 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with the male sheep. 13 And with each lamb you must give a grain offering. Mix together 1 kilogram of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with each male lamb as a burnt offering to the Lord. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy. 14 And there must be drink offerings with these sacrifices. The offering must be 2 litres of wine for a bull. It must be 1.5 litres for the male sheep and 1 litre for a lamb. That is the burnt offering of each month for every month of the year. 15 Also, you must offer one male goat as a sin offering to the Lord. You must offer it with the proper drink offering. But you must still offer the regular burnt offering.
The Passover
16 On the 14th day of the first month, you must eat the Lord's Passover meal. 17 Day 15 is the start of a week when you must eat the flat bread. You must not put any yeast in the bread. You must do that for seven days. 18 The first day will be a holy day and all the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day. 19 And you must give an offering by fire, a burnt offering to the Lord. The offering must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are one year old. But these animals must not have anything wrong with them. 20 Offer the proper grain offering with each animal. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour and olive oil. Offer it to me with each bull. With the male sheep, offer 2 kilograms of the best flour with oil. 21 With each of the seven lambs, you must offer one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with oil. 22 You must also give one male goat as a sin offering. That is to make things right with God for you. 23 But you must still give the regular burnt offering in the morning. 24 You must offer those gifts every day for seven days. They are the food of an offering by fire. The smell of them as they burn will make the Lord happy. But you must still give the regular burnt offering with the proper drink offering. 25 And the seventh day must be a holy day and all the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day.
The Festival of Weeks
26 The day when you offer to the Lord the first part of the harvest must also be a holy day. That is also the day when you give to the Lord an offering of new grain. That is the Festival of Weeks. All the people must meet together. You must not work at your jobs on that day. 27 And you must give a burnt offering to the Lord. The offering must be two young bulls, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are one year old. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will make the Lord happy. 28 Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour and olive oil. Offer that with each bull. With the male sheep, offer 2 kilograms of flour with oil. 29 With each of the seven lambs, you must offer one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with oil. 30 You must also offer one male goat to remove your sins. 31 You must still give the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering. You must give them with the proper drink offerings. The animals must not have anything wrong with them.
This psalm is for Solomon.
A prayer for the king[a]
72 God, please help the king
to judge people in a right way.
Help the king's son to be honest and fair,
as you are.[b]
2 Then he will rule your people in a good way,
so that even poor people receive justice.
3 The mountains and the hills will bring peace,
so that the people can live honest lives.
4 Please help the king to judge poor people fairly.
May he save the children of weak people,
and destroy those cruel people who hurt them.
5 May people always respect your authority, God,
through all time,
as long as the sun and the moon remain in the sky.[c]
6 May the king be a blessing to his people,
like rain that falls on grass that lies in the fields.
May he be like rain
that brings water to the soil.
7 While he rules as king,
those people who serve God will do well.
There will be peace in all the land,
for as long as the moon remains in the sky.
8 May the king rule everywhere,
from sea to sea,
and from the Euphrates river to the ends of the earth.[d]
9 Then people who live in the desert
will bend down to respect him.
His enemies will fall down
with their faces in the dust.
10 Kings from Spain and from other far places
will pay taxes to him.
Kings from Sheba and from Seba
will bring gifts to him.
11 All kings will bend down in front of him.
People from all nations will serve him.
12 He will rescue the poor person
who calls out to him for help.
He will save weak people
who have nobody to help them.
13 He will be kind to people who are poor and weak.
He will save them from death.
14 He will rescue them from cruel people who hurt them.
Their lives are important to him.
15 Long live the king!
May people come from Sheba to give gold to him.
May people always pray for him.
May people praise him all the time.
16 May there always be plenty of grain
that grows in the land.
May the crops grow well
on the tops of the mountains.
May the fruit trees give a lot of fruit,
as they do in Lebanon.
May all the crops grow well,
like grass that grows in a field.
17 May the king be famous for ever!
May people remember him
for as long as the sun continues to shine.
May people from all nations use his name
when they bless one another.
May they all say that God has blessed the king!
18 Praise the Lord, Israel's God,
as he deserves.
Only he does such wonderful things.
19 Praise his great name for ever!
May his glory fill the whole earth!
Amen! May that all happen!
20 This is the end of the prayers of Jesse's son, David.[e]
A message about Egypt
19 This is a message about Egypt.
Look! The Lord is coming to Egypt! He is riding quickly on a cloud and he will soon arrive! The idols of Egypt will shake with fear when he comes. All the people in Egypt will be very afraid.
2 ‘I will cause Egypt's people to fight against each other. People will fight against their own family. They will fight against their neighbours. Cities and kingdoms will fight against each other. 3 The Egyptians will become afraid, so that they do not know what to do. They will ask for help from their idols. They will ask the spirits of dead people to tell them what to do. They will ask magicians to talk to those spirits on their behalf. 4 I will cause a cruel master to have power over Egypt. A powerful king will rule over its people.’
That is what the Lord, the Almighty Lord.
5 The water of the sea will become dry. The Nile river will also become dry and it will have no water in it. 6 The streams will have a bad smell. All the streams and rivers will slowly become dry. The reeds and the river grasses will die. 7 The plants beside the river will die, as well as the crops in the fields along the shore. Everything will become dry and the wind will blow it all away.
8 The people who catch fish in the Nile river will be very sad. Yes, everyone who throws a hook into the river will cry. The people who throw nets into the river will not catch any fish.
9 The people who make linen cloth will not know what to do. There will be no flax for them to use. 10 They will be very upset. All the people who work to get money will be sad.
11 The royal officers in Zoan are fools! Pharaoh's wise leaders tell him to do stupid things! They should not boast to Pharaoh that they are wise. They should not say that they are descendants of wise kings from long ago.
12 Pharaoh, where have your wise men gone? Call them to come! Ask them to tell you what the Lord Almighty has decided to do against Egypt.
13 The officers in Zoan are fools. The officers in Memphis have confused each other. The leaders of Egypt's clans have led their people in the wrong direction.
14 The Lord has sent among the people in Egypt a spirit that confuses them. They go the wrong way in everything that they do. They are like drunk people who have been sick. They cannot walk in a straight line.
15 Nobody in Egypt will be able to do anything. They may be Egypt's head or its tail, a palm branch or a reed.[a] There is nothing that anyone can do.
16 At that time, the Egyptians will be weak, like women. They will shake with fear because the Lord Almighty is ready to punish them. 17 The people of Judah will frighten the Egyptians very much. If anyone says Judah's name, everyone who hears it will be afraid. They will be very afraid of the punishment that the Lord Almighty will bring to them.
18 At that time, five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan.[b] The people in those cities will promise to obey the Lord Almighty. One of the cities will have the name ‘Sun City’.
19 At that time, there will be an altar in the middle of Egypt's land, where people will worship the Lord. There will also be a tall stone for the Lord at Egypt's border. 20 Those two things will be signs to tell everyone in Egypt about the Lord Almighty. Because of those signs, the Egyptians will remember that the Lord is powerful. When their enemies are cruel to them, they will call out to the Lord for help. Then he will send a strong saviour to rescue them. 21 The Lord will cause the Egyptians to know him. They will agree to serve him. They will worship the Lord with sacrifices and offerings. They will make promises to the Lord, and they will do what they have promised to do. 22 The Lord himself will punish the Egyptians. But after that, they will turn to the Lord. He will answer their prayers, and he will make them well again.
23 At that time, there will be a road from Egypt to Assyria. People from Assyria will travel to Egypt and Egyptians will travel to Assyria. Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.
24 At that time, Israel will join Egypt and Assyria as a third important nation. They will bring blessing to the whole world. 25 The Lord Almighty will bless them all. He will say, ‘I will bless Egypt, who are now my people. I will bless Assyria, the people that I have made. And I will bless Israel, the people that I have chosen to belong to me.’
A message about Egypt and Cush
20 One year, Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent the leader of his army to attack Ashdod.[c] His army fought against Ashdod and they took the city. 2 At that time, the Lord gave this message to Isaiah, the son of Amoz. He said, ‘Go and remove the rough clothes that you are wearing. Take your shoes off your feet.’ Isaiah did what the Lord told him to do. He walked about without clothes and without shoes.[d]
3 After three years, the Lord said, ‘My servant Isaiah has walked without clothes and without shoes for three years. That is a sign to warn Egypt and Cush about what will happen to them. 4 The king of Assyria will take away people from Egypt as prisoners. He will do the same thing to the people of Cush. Young people and old people will go as prisoners to Assyria. They will not wear any clothes or shoes. People will see their bare bodies. The Egyptians will be very ashamed. 5 Anyone who trusted that Cush or Egypt would be strong enough to save them will be ashamed. They will be afraid. 6 At that time, the people who live on this coast will say, “Look! This has happened to the people that we trusted to help us. We thought that they would rescue us from the king of Assyria. Now we will never escape from his power.” ’
God has given to us everything that we need to be his people
1 This letter is from me, Simon Peter. I am Jesus Christ's servant and his apostle.
I am writing to you people who believe in Jesus Christ, as we do. That is a valuable gift that God has given to us all. He has done this because Jesus is completely good and right. Jesus is the one who saves us. He is the God that we serve.
2 I pray that God will help you and give you peace in your minds more and more. You will grow as believers because you know God and you know Jesus, our Lord.
3 God is very powerful because he is God. He has used that power to help us. He has given us everything that we need to live in a good way. We can do things that make God happy. This is possible because now we know him. God has chosen us to be his people because he is very great and very good. 4 Because of this, God has promised that he will do very great and valuable things for us. As a result, you can do what is right, like God does. The people who belong to this world want to do bad things. Those bad things make them become worse and worse. But God gives you the power to be free from all that.
5 God has done all this to help you. So now that you believe in Christ, you must grow as believers. Try very much to do always what is good. Then you should grow to know God more and more. 6 Then you should learn to control yourselves properly. That is not all. You should also learn to be patient and brave. And you should live in a way that pleases God. 7 You should not only please God, but you should be kind to other believers. You should not only love other believers, but you must also love all people.
8 You should continue to grow as believers in all these ways. Then it will show that you really know our Lord Jesus Christ. People will see that your life has good results. 9 But some people do not live in these good ways. They do not think that these things are important. They are like blind people. They cannot really see anything properly. They have forgotten that God has made them clean from all the sins that they did in past times.
10 So, my friends, try very much to live in a way that pleases God. God has chosen you to be his own people. Show that you really do belong to him! If you do these things, you will never turn away from God. 11 Then God will bring you safely into the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ that continues for ever. Jesus Christ is our Saviour and God will be happy to welcome you into his kingdom.
12 You already know these things. You know that they are completely true. But because they are important, I will continue to tell you about them again and again. 13 While I am still alive on this earth I will continue to make sure that you remember them. I think that it is right for me to do that. 14 I know that I will die soon. Our Lord Jesus Christ has shown me that clearly. 15 After I am no longer with you, I want you still to remember what I have told you. So I will make sure that you have something to help you not to forget.
Peter himself saw how great Christ is
16 We told you that our Lord Jesus Christ is powerful. We also told you that he will return to earth again. We were not telling you false stories that came from people's clever ideas. Instead, we were telling you what we ourselves had seen. We ourselves saw that the Lord Jesus is very great. 17-18 We were with him on the holy mountain when his Father God spoke to him.[a] God gave honour to his Son, Jesus, and he said that Jesus is great. We ourselves heard God's voice speak to Jesus from heaven above where God rules with power. He said: ‘This is my Son and I love him. He makes me very happy.’
God's messages in the Bible are very important
19 As well as that, we have the prophets' messages from long ago. They also show us very clearly that these things are true. The prophets' words are like a light that shines in a dark place. That light continues to shine in the dark until the dawn comes. So you need to think about those messages carefully. Then the morning star will rise and it will bring light deep inside you.[b] 20 It is very important that you should understand this: The prophets' messages in the Bible did not come from their own ideas. That never happens. 21 None of the prophets' messages came because any person wanted to say something. Instead, God's Holy Spirit caused people to speak words that came from God.[c]
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