M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 15
Additional Offerings. 1 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them: ‘When you come into the land of your dwelling that I will give you 3 and you make an offering by fire to the Lord, either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or on your appointed feast days, whether it be from the herd or the flock, in order to make a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, 4 then the person bringing his offering to the Lord should bring a cereal offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil.[a] 5 With each burnt offering or sacrifice of a lamb you are to make a drink offering of a quarter of a hin of wine. 6 For a ram, you are to make a cereal offering of two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, 7 and for a drink offering you are to offer a third of a hin of wine, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord.
8 “ ‘When you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, whether to fulfill a vow or to make a peace offering to the Lord, 9 you will offer a cereal offering of three-tenths of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with half a hin of oil along with the young bull, 10 and you will bring a drink offering of half a hin of wine. It will be an offering made by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 11 Each young bull or each ram, each lamb or each kid goat is to be prepared in this way. 12 Whatever number you prepare, you shall do this with each one.
13 “ ‘All who were born in the land will do things this way when they present an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord. 14 If there is a foreigner living among you or a person living among you for generations, and he wishes to make an offering by fire, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, let him do it as you have done it. 15 For the community, there is one ordinance for you and for the foreigner living in your midst, it is a perpetual ordinance for all your generations. Thus, you and the foreigner are the same before the Lord. 16 The same laws and statutes apply to you and the foreigner who is living in your midst.’ ”
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘When you enter into the land to which I am bringing you, 19 then when you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering to the Lord. 20 You shall lift up a cake from the first[b] of your dough as an offering just as you present an offering from your threshing floor. 21 You shall give an offering to the Lord from the first of your dough for all your generations.
22 Atonement Offerings.“ ‘If by mistake you have not observed all the commandments that the Lord proclaimed through Moses, 23 all that the Lord commanded through Moses, from the day that the Lord gave the commandments and onward through all your generations, 24 this is what will be done: if the action was committed unintentionally and without the knowledge of the assembly, then the whole assembly is to offer up one young bull as a burnt offering, a pleasing fragrance to the Lord, along with its cereal and drink offerings, according to custom, as well as one kid goat as a sin offering. 25 The priest shall make atonement for the whole assembly of the people of Israel, and it will be forgiven them, for it was unintentional. They will have brought a sacrifice by fire to the Lord, a sin offering to the Lord for their mistake. 26 All of the assembly of the people of Israel and even the foreigner living among them shall be forgiven, for all the people participated in the mistake.
27 “ ‘If a person sins unintentionally, then he is to offer up a year-old she-goat as a sin offering. 28 The priest is to make atonement before the Lord for the one who has sinned unintentionally. When atonement has been made for him, he will be forgiven. 29 You shall have one law for those who sin unintentionally, whether they were born among the people of Israel or they are foreigners living in your midst.
30 “ ‘But if someone does anything defiantly, whether he be native born or a foreigner, then that person blasphemes the Lord and is to be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, let that person be completely cut off, and let his guilt remain upon him.’ ”
32 Sabbath-breaker Punished.[c] Now, while the people of Israel were in the desert, they came upon a man gathering wood on the Sabbath. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and to the whole assembly 34 and they put him under guard, for it had not yet been established what was to be done to him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Surely the man is to be put to death! Let the whole assembly stone him outside of the camp!” 36 So the whole assembly took him outside of the camp, and they stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
37 Tassels on Garments.[d] The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the people of Israel and tell them to have tassels on the corners of their garments throughout all their generations. Let them put a blue cord on the tassels of each corner. 39 When you look at the tassels, you will remember the commandments of the Lord and keep them. Thus you will not prostitute yourselves by following after the lusts in your own heart or your own eyes. 40 Then you will remember to obey all the commandments and you will be holy to your God. 41 I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord, your God.”
Psalm 51[a]
The “Miserere”: Repentance for Sin
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David. 2 When Nathan the prophet came to him after he had sinned with Bathsheba.
3 Have mercy on me, O God,
in accord with your kindness;[c]
in your abundant compassion
wipe away my offenses.
4 Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 For I am fully aware of my offense,
and my sin is ever before me.
6 Against you, you alone,[d] have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in your sight.
Therefore, you are right in accusing me
and just in passing judgment.
7 Indeed, I was born in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.[e]
8 But you desire sincerity of heart;[f]
and you endow my innermost being with wisdom.
9 Sprinkle me with hyssop[g] so that I may be cleansed;
wash me until I am whiter than snow.
10 Let me experience joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed exult.
11 Hide your face from my sins,
and wipe out all my offenses.
12 Create[h] in me a clean heart, O God,
and renew a resolute spirit within me.
13 Do not cast me out from your presence
or take away from me your Holy Spirit.[i]
14 Restore to me the joy of being saved,
and grant me the strength of a generous spirit.
15 I will teach your ways to the wicked,
and sinners will return to you.
16 Deliver me from bloodguilt,[j] O God,
the God of my salvation,
and I will proclaim your righteousness.
17 O Lord, open my lips,
and my mouth will proclaim your praise.
18 For you take no delight in sacrifice;
if I were to make a burnt offering,
you would refuse to accept it.[k]
19 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit;
a contrite and humble heart,[l] O God,
you will not spurn.
20 [m]In your kindness, deal favorably with Zion;
build up the walls of Jerusalem.
21 Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices,
in burnt offerings and whole oblations,
and young bulls will be offered on your altar.
Chapter 5
The Song of the Vineyard[a]
1 Now let me sing for my beloved
the song of my friend concerning his vineyard.
My beloved had a vineyard
on a fertile hillside.
2 He dug it, cleared it of stones,
and planted it with choice red vines.
In its midst he built a watchtower
and also hewed out a winepress.
He expected it to yield a rich crop of grapes,
but the only thing it brought forth was wild grapes.
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem and people of Judah,
I ask you to judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard
that I did not do?
When I expected it to yield choice grapes,
why did it bring forth wild grapes?
5 Now listen to me as I tell you
what I am planning to do to my vineyard.
I will take away its hedge
and use it for grazing.
I will knock down its wall
and let it be trampled upon.
6 I will let it go to waste;
it will be neither pruned nor hoed,
but left overgrown with briars and thorns.
I will also command the clouds
not to allow any rain to fall upon it.
7 The vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are the plant he cherished.
He expected justice but found bloodshed;
he expected righteousness but heard cries of distress.
The Doom of Sinners
8 Woe to you who add house to house
and join field to field
until there is no further space remaining
and you are left to dwell alone
in the midst of the land.
9 The Lord of hosts in my hearing
has sworn this solemn oath:
Many houses will be left desolate,
large and fine mansions
with no one to inhabit them.
10 For ten acres of vineyard
will yield only one barrel,
and ten bushels of seed
will yield only a single bushel.
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
to imbibe strong drink,
and who linger far into the night
inflamed with wine.
12 Their feasts are marked with harps and lyres,
tambourines and flutes and wine.
But they never give thought to the deeds of the Lord,
or note what his hands have accomplished.
13 Therefore, my people shall end up in exile
because they have no knowledge of my deeds.
Their nobles are dying of hunger
and their masses are parched with thirst.
14 As a result, the netherworld has increased its appetite
and opened its jaws to an immeasurable extent,
swallowing the nobility of Jerusalem and her masses,
her throngs and all who exult in her.
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by his judgment,
and by righteousness the holy God has displayed his holiness.
17 Lambs will graze there as in their pasture,
and yearlings will feed among the ruins.
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity along
with the cords of perversity,
and who drag sin along
as though with cart ropes;
19 woe to those who say, “Let the Lord make haste
and speed up his work that we may see it;
let the Holy One of Israel
be brought to fulfillment
so that we may know it.”
20 Woe to those who call good what is evil
and call evil what is good,
who classify as darkness what is light
and designate as light what is darkness,
who make sweet what is bitter
and make bitter what is sweet.
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and consider themselves to be prudent.
22 Woe to those who are unmatched in their consumption of wine
and unsurpassed in mixing drinks,
23 who accept bribes to acquit the guilty
and deny justice to the innocent.
24 As tongues of fire devour the stubble,
and as dry grass shrivels in the flames,
so their root will decay
and their blossoms will be scattered like dust;
for they have rejected the law of the Lord of hosts
and scorned the word of the Holy One of Israel.
25 Therefore, the anger of the Lord
blazed forth against his people;
he raised his hand against them
and struck them down.
The mountains quaked,
and their corpses lay like refuse in the streets.
But despite all this
his anger has not been sated,
and his hand is still stretched out.
Deliverance[b]
26 He will deliver a signal to a far-distant nation
and summon them from the ends of the earth;
they will respond swiftly without any delay.[c]
27 None of them are weary, none of them stumble,
no one slumbers or sleeps.
None of them have their belts unfastened
or sandals with a broken strap.
28 Their arrows are sharpened
and all their bows are bent.
The hoofs of their horses seem like flint,
and their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.
29 Their roar is like that of a lion;
they growl like young lions.
They roar as they seize their prey,
and no one can prevent them from carrying it off.
30 They will roar over it on that day,
similar to the roaring of the sea.
And if anyone looks at the land,
he will behold only darkness and distress,
with the light fading at the approaching clouds.
Let Us Run with Eyes Fixed on Jesus[a]
Chapter 12
You Have Not Yet Resisted to the Point of Bloodshed. 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,[b] let us throw off everything that weighs us down and the sins that so easily distract us and with perseverance run the race that lies ahead of us, 2 with our eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. For the sake of the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, ignoring its shame, and is now seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 Reflect on how he endured such great hostility from sinners so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. 4 In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.
God Is Treating You as His Children.[c] 5 You have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children:
“My son, do not scorn the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when you are punished by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines those whom he loves,
and he chastises every son whom he acknowledges.”
7 Endure the trials you receive as a form of discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there who is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you have not received the discipline in which all share, then you are illegitimate and not true sons.
9 In addition, we have all received discipline from our earthly fathers, and we respected them. Should we not then be even more willing to submit to the Father of spirits and live? 10 They disciplined us for a short time as they thought best, but he does so for our benefit so that we may share his holiness.
11 At the time that discipline is received, it always seems painful rather than pleasant, but afterward it yields a harvest of peace and uprightness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore, strengthen your drooping hands and your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that your weakened limbs may not be disabled but rather may be healed.
14 Seek Peace and Sanctification.[d] Seek peace with everyone, as well as the holiness without which no one will ever see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one is deprived of the grace of God, and that no root of bitterness may spring up and cause trouble, resulting in the defilement of many.
16 Do not be like Esau, an immoral and worldly-minded person who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he sought to inherit the blessing, he was rejected. Even though he sought it with tears, he found no possibility for repentance.
18 Listen to the One Who Is Speaking.[e] You have not come to something that can be touched: a blazing fire, or complete darkness, or gloom, or a storm, 19 or the sound of a trumpet, or a voice speaking words that made those who heard them beg that nothing more be said to them. 20 For they could not bear to hear the command that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses cried out, “I am terrified and trembling.”
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to myriads of angels in joyful gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn[f] whose names are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous who have been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more powerfully than even the blood of Abel.
25 See that you do not reject the one who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they rejected the one who warned them on earth, how much more is this true of us if we turn away from the one who is from heaven? 26 At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Once more I will shake not only the earth but heaven as well.”
27 The words “once more” indicate the removal of what can be shaken—that is, all created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us give thanks, offering to God a worship that is pleasing to him. 29 For our God is a consuming fire.
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