M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Festival of Trumpets

29 On the first day of the seventh month, all the people must come together for a holy meeting. You must not work at your jobs. It is a day for you to make music with your trumpets. ² And you must offer a burnt offering to the Lord. You must give one young bull and one male sheep. Also offer seven lambs that are one year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will cause the Lord to be happy. ³ Offer to me the proper grain offering with each animal. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with the young bull. Offer 2 kilograms of flour with oil with the male sheep. ⁴ Offer 1 kilogram of flour with each lamb. ⁵ Also offer one male goat as a sin offering, so that I will forgive the people's sins. ⁶ Offer these sacrifices as well as the burnt offering, grain offerings and drink offerings that you give each month and each day. The smell of the smoke from these sacrifices will cause the Lord to be happy.

The Day of Atonement

⁷ On the tenth day of the seventh month, you must come together for a holy meeting. During that day, you must make yourselves humble. And you must not do any work. ⁸ You must offer a burnt offering to the Lord. The smell of the smoke will make the Lord happy. Offer one young bull, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are one year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ⁹ Offer to me the proper grain offering with each animal. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with the young bull. Offer 2 kilograms of flour with oil with the male sheep. ¹⁰ Offer 1 kilogram of flour with oil with each lamb. ¹¹ Also offer one male goat as a sin offering. Give these gifts as well as the burnt offering, the grain offerings and the drink offerings that you give each day and each month.

The Festival of Huts

¹² On the 15th day of the seventh month, you must come together for a holy meeting. You must not work at your jobs. You must have a feast to the Lord for seven days. ¹³ Give an offering by fire as a smell to make the Lord happy. Give a burnt offering of 13 young bulls, two male sheep and 14 lambs that are one year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ¹⁴ With each of the 13 bulls give a grain offering. Mix together 3 kilograms of the best flour with olive oil. Offer it to me with each bull. With each male sheep, offer 2 kilograms of flour with oil. ¹⁵ Offer one kilogram of flour that you have mixed with oil with each male lamb. ¹⁶ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

¹⁷ On the second day, give 12 young bulls, two male sheep and 14 lambs that are one year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ¹⁸ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ¹⁹ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and their drink offerings.

²⁰ On the third day, give 11 bulls, two male sheep and 14 male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ²¹ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ²² Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

²³ On the fourth day give ten bulls, two male sheep and 14 male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ²⁴ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ²⁵ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

²⁶ On the fifth day give nine bulls, two male sheep and 14 male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ²⁷ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ²⁸ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

²⁹ On the sixth day give eight bulls, two male sheep and 14 male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ³⁰ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ³¹ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

³² On the seventh day give seven bulls, two male sheep and 14 male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ³³ With the bulls, male sheep and lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ³⁴ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

³⁵ On the eighth day, all the people must come together for a holy meeting. You must not work at your jobs. ³⁶ Give an offering by fire as a smell to make the Lord happy. Give a burnt offering of one bull, one male sheep and seven male lambs that are a year old. The animals must not have anything wrong with them. ³⁷ With the bull, the male sheep and the lambs, give the proper grain offerings and drink offerings for each animal. ³⁸ Include one male goat as a sin offering. Sacrifice it with the regular burnt offering with the proper grain offering and the drink offering.

³⁹ You must offer those gifts to the Lord at the times of the feasts. You must do that even if you have given your usual burnt offering, grain offerings, drink offerings or friendship offerings. And you must do it even if you have given other offerings. You might have given those other offerings because you wanted to give them. Or you might have given them because you had promised to give them.” ’

⁴⁰ Moses told the Israelites everything that the Lord had said to him.

This is a psalm that Asaph wrote.

God has helped me to understand^[a]

A message about Babylon

21 This is a message about the desert near the sea.

Trouble is coming from the desert, like a strong wind that blows from the south. It comes from a land of great fear.

² The Lord showed me a vision of terrible things.

³ Because of that vision, I am very upset. Bad pains attack me, like the pains of a woman who is giving birth. My body hurts because of the things that I have heard. I am afraid to look! ⁴ It confuses my mind. I shake with fear. I wanted a quiet evening, but instead there is terror.

⁵ Look! They are preparing a feast. They put down carpets for people to sit on. They are eating and they are drinking. Officers, stand up! Make your shields ready for battle!

⁶ This is what the Lord God has said to me:

⁸ Then the guard shouted, ‘Lord God, I am standing every day on the tower where I watch. I stand at my place every night. ⁹ And look! Something is coming! It is a chariot that two horses are pulling!’ The rider reports, ‘An enemy has completely destroyed Babylon! All the idols of its people's gods lie in pieces on the ground!’

¹⁰ Yes, my people, Babylon's army has hurt you very much. But now I have reported to you the message from the Lord Almighty, Israel's God.

A message about Edom

¹¹ This is a message about Dumah.

Someone is shouting to me from Seir.^[a] They are asking, ‘Guard, how soon will the night finish? Please tell me.’

¹² The guard replies, ‘The morning will come soon. But the night will quickly follow. If you want to ask again, then come back. Come and ask!’

A message about Arabia

¹³ This is a message about Arabia.

Traders from Dedan, you put up your tents in Arabia's wilderness. ¹⁴ You must bring some water for the thirsty people to drink. You people who live in Tema, bring food to give to the hungry people who are running away from danger.^{[b] 15} They are running away from the weapons of war. They are running from the swords, bows and arrows of a dangerous battle.

¹⁶ This is what the Lord God has said to me: ‘In one year's time, all Kedar's glory will have gone. Count every day, as if you are working to receive money. ¹⁷ Only a few of Kedar's brave soldiers will remain, with their bows and arrows.’

That is what the Lord, Israel's God, has said.

God will punish false teachers

2 Many years ago, there were false prophets among God's people. They did not speak God's true messages. In the same way, there will also be false teachers among you. They will come among you and they will teach you things that are not true. Their wrong ideas will deceive people. Those false teachers will even speak against the Master, who paid the price for their sins. As a result, they will bring trouble on themselves that quickly destroys them. ² Many people will believe these false teachers. They will live in a bad way, like the false teachers. As a result, other people will say bad things against God's true way to live.

³ The false teachers want you to give them money. So they will teach things that are not true. A long time ago, God already decided that he must punish them. God is ready to do that now. Certainly, he will soon destroy them.

⁴ God even punished the angels who refused to obey him. He threw them down into the deep hole of hell. He tied them up and he kept them in that completely dark place. They will remain there until the day when God will judge them.^[a]

⁵ Also, a long time ago, God punished all the bad people who lived in the world. He sent water to cover over all the earth. All the people who had turned away from him drowned in the water. But God kept Noah safe. Noah had told people God's message that they should do right things. So God saved Noah, and seven other people, from the water.^[b]

⁶ Later, God punished the people who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Because they did bad things, God decided to destroy them. He burned those cities completely, so that only ashes remained. When God did that, he showed what will happen to all people who refuse to obey him. ⁷ But God saved Lot from danger. Lot was a good man. He was very sad because the people in Sodom did not obey God's laws. They lived in a very bad way. ⁸ Lot lived among those bad people. Every day, he saw the bad things that they did. Every day, he heard the bad things that they said. As a result, Lot had much trouble in his mind, because he was a good man.^[c]

⁹ We know that the Lord God has done all these things in past times. He knows how to save people who respect him from their troubles. But he will continue to punish the people who refuse to obey him. He will keep them until the day when he will judge them. ¹⁰ God will certainly punish those people who want bad things for themselves. They do the wrong things that their bodies want to do. They do not want to obey anyone's authority.

These false teachers are not afraid of what other people think about them. They think that they themselves are very important. They are not afraid to say many bad things against the great angels in heaven.^{[d] 11} The angels are more powerful than the false teachers are. But even these angels will not say bad things against them when the Lord is present.

¹² But these false teachers speak against things that they do not understand. They are like wild animals. Their minds cannot think properly. They only do what their nature causes them to do. Wild animals are born so that people can catch them and kill them. In the same way, God will destroy the false teachers. ¹³ They have caused other people to have much trouble. In return, God will cause them to have trouble. They just do things which will make their bodies happy. They have wild parties, even during the day. They eat and drink too much when they eat meals with you. They enjoy all these bad ways to be happy. As a result, people think bad things about you as well. They cause people to be ashamed about you. So they are like dirty marks that spoil something which is clean. ¹⁴ All the time, they are looking for women who will have sex with them. They never stop doing wicked things. They teach people who have weak minds to believe wrong things. They just want more and more things to make themselves happy. God will certainly punish these people, because they are so bad.

¹⁵ These false teachers have left the way which is good and right. Like Balaam, Beor's son, they have gone the wrong way. Balaam wanted money so much that he did wrong things to get it. ¹⁶ But a donkey told him that he was not obeying God. We know that donkeys cannot talk. But that donkey spoke with a human voice. It stopped the prophet Balaam from doing more crazy things.^[e]

¹⁷ These false teachers promise good things that will never happen. They are like a dry well that has no water. They are like clouds in a storm which the wind blows away so that no rain comes. God will certainly send them to the darkest place in hell. He has kept that place ready for them.

¹⁸ The messages that these teachers speak seem very important. But their words really mean nothing. In that way, they lead people away from God. Some people have not been believers for very long. They have only just become free from the wrong things that people do. But the false teachers tell these people to do bad things that will make them happy. ¹⁹ The false teachers tell these believers to do whatever they want to do. They promise that this will make them really free. But the false teachers themselves are not free. Instead, they are like slaves. They cannot stop doing the bad things that will destroy them. We know that if something has power over a person, then that person is its slave.

²⁰ People like that learned about our Lord Jesus Christ, who saves us. As a result, they had stopped doing the bad things that belong to this world. They had become free from the power of those things. But now they have started to do those bad things again. Those things have power over them and they cannot stop doing them. So now, these false teachers are worse than they were at the beginning, before they believed in the Lord Jesus.

²¹ It would have been better for them if they had never known God's good way. But they did understand about the right things that God wants us to do. And then they turned away from that way of life. They stopped obeying God's good rules, that people had taught them. ²² You know these true proverbs: ‘After a dog has been sick, it returns to eat it again.’^[f] Also: ‘After you wash a pig, it will quickly roll in the dirt again.’ These words describe how the false teachers live.