M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Warnings About Various Sins

20 The Lord said to Moses, ² “You must also tell the people of Israel these things: ‘A person in your country might give one of his children to Molech. That person must be killed. It doesn’t matter if he is a citizen or a foreigner living in Israel. You must throw stones at him and kill him. ³ I will be against him. I will separate him from his people. This is because he gave his children to Molech. He showed that he did not respect my holy name. And he made my Holy Place unclean. ⁴ The people of the community might ignore that person. They might not kill the one who gave his children to Molech. ⁵ But I will be against him and his family. I will separate him from his people. I will do this to anyone who is unfaithful to me and who worships Molech.

⁶ “‘I will be against anyone who goes to mediums and fortune-tellers for advice. He is being unfaithful to me. So I will separate him from his people.

⁷ “‘Be my holy people. Be holy because I am holy. I am the Lord your God. ⁸ Remember and obey my laws. I am the Lord, and I have made you holy.

⁹ “‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death. He has cursed his father or mother. So he must be punished.

Punishments for Sexual Sins

¹⁰ “‘A man might have physical relations with his neighbor’s wife. If he does, both the man and the woman are guilty of adultery. So they must be put to death. ¹¹ A man might have physical relations with his father’s wife. If he does, both the man and his father’s wife must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves. That man has shamed his father.

¹² “‘A man might have physical relations with his daughter-in-law. If he does, both of them must be put to death. What they have done is not natural. It must be punished.

¹³ “‘A man might have physical relations with another man as a man does with a woman. If he does, these two men have done a hated sin. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.

¹⁴ “‘A man might have physical relations with both a woman and her mother. This is evil. The people must burn that man and the two women in fire. Do this so that your people will not be evil.

¹⁵ “‘A man might have unnatural physical relations with an animal. If he does, he must be put to death. And you must also kill the animal. ¹⁶ A woman might have unnatural physical relations with an animal. If she does, you must kill the woman and the animal. They must be put to death. They have brought it on themselves.

¹⁷ “‘It is shameful for a brother to marry his sister and to have physical relations with her. In front of everyone they must both be separated from their people. The man has shamed his sister. And he is guilty of sin.

¹⁸ “‘If a man has physical relations with a woman during her monthly period, both the woman and the man must be separated from their people. They sinned because they showed the source of her blood.

¹⁹ “‘Do not have physical relations with your mother’s sister or your father’s sister. That would shame a close relative. Both of you are guilty of this sin.

²⁰ “‘A man must not have physical relations with his uncle’s wife. That would shame his uncle. That man and his uncle’s wife would die without children. They are guilty of sin.

²¹ “‘It is unclean for a man to marry his brother’s wife. That man has shamed his brother. They would have no children.

²² “‘Remember all my laws and rules, and obey them. I am leading you to your own land. If you obey my laws and rules, that land will not throw you out. ²³ I am forcing the people who live there out of that country ahead of you. Because they did all these sins I have hated them. Do not live the way those people lived.

²⁴ “‘I have told you that you will get their land. I will give it to you as your very own. It is a land where much food grows. I am the Lord your God. I have set you apart from other people and made you my own. ²⁵ So you must treat clean animals and birds differently from unclean animals. Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these unclean birds or animals or things that crawl on the ground. I have made them unclean for you. ²⁶ I have set you apart from other people. So you must be holy to me. This is because I am the Lord, and I am holy.

²⁷ “‘A man or woman who is a medium or a fortune-teller must be put to death. You must kill them with stones. They have brought it on themselves.’”

A Prayer for God to Guide

Of David.

There Is a Time for Everything

God Controls His World

⁹ Does a person really gain anything from his work? ¹⁰ I saw the hard work God has given us to do. ¹¹ God has also given us a desire to know the future. God certainly does everything at just the right time. But we can never completely understand what he is doing. ¹² So I realize that the best thing for people is to be happy. They should enjoy themselves as long as they live. ¹³ God wants everyone to eat and drink and be happy in his work. These are gifts from God. ¹⁴ I know anything God does will continue forever. People cannot add anything to what God has done. And they cannot take anything away from it. God does it this way to cause people to honor him.

God Allows Unfairness

¹⁸ But I decided that God leaves it the way it is to test people. He wants to show them they are just like animals. ¹⁹ The same thing happens to animals and to people. They both have the same breath. So they both die. People are no better off than the animals. The lives of both are soon gone. ²⁰ Both end up the same way. Both came from dust. And both will go back to dust. ²¹ Who can be sure that the spirit of man goes up to God? Or who can be sure that the spirit of an animal goes down into the ground? ²² So I saw the best thing a person can do is to enjoy his work. That is all he has. No one can help a person see what will happen in the future.

Rules for Living with Others

5 Do not speak angrily to an older man, but talk to him as if he were your father. Treat younger men like brothers. ² Treat older women like mothers, and younger women like sisters. Always treat them in a pure way.

³ Take care of widows who are all alone. ⁴ But if a widow has children or grandchildren, the first thing they need to learn is to do their duty to their own family. When they do this, they will be repaying their parents or grandparents. That pleases God. ⁵ If a widow is all alone and without help, then she puts her hope in God and prays night and day for God’s help. ⁶ But the widow who uses her life to please herself is really dead while she is still living. ⁷ Tell the believers there to do these things so that no one can say they are doing wrong. ⁸ A believer should take care of his own relatives, especially his own family. If he does not do that, he has turned against the faith. He is worse than a person who does not believe in God.

⁹ To be on your list of widows, a woman must be 60 years old or older. She must have been faithful to her husband. ¹⁰ She must be known as a woman who has done good works. By this, I mean good works such as raising her children, accepting visitors in her home, washing the feet of God’s people, helping those in trouble, and using her life to do all kinds of good deeds.

¹¹ But do not put younger widows on that list. After they give themselves to Christ, they are often pulled away from him by their physical desires. And then they want to marry again. ¹² And they will be judged for not doing what they first promised to do. ¹³ Also, those younger widows begin to waste their time going from house to house. They begin to gossip and busy themselves with other people’s lives. They say things that they should not say. ¹⁴ So I want the younger widows to marry, have children, and take care of their homes. If they do this, then no enemy will have any reason to criticize them. ¹⁵ But some of the younger widows have already turned away to follow Satan.

¹⁶ If any woman who is a believer has widows in her family, then she should care for them herself. The church should not have to care for them. Then the church will be able to care for the widows who have no living family.

¹⁷ The elders who lead the church well should receive great honor. Those who work hard by speaking and teaching especially should receive great honor. ¹⁸ For the Scripture says, “When an ox is working in the grain, do not cover its mouth to keep it from eating.”^[a] And the Scripture also says, “A worker should be given his pay.”^[b]

¹⁹ Do not listen to someone who accuses an elder, unless there are two or three other persons who say he did wrong. ²⁰ Tell those who keep on sinning that they are wrong. Do this in front of the whole church so that the others will have a warning.

²¹ Before God and Jesus Christ and the chosen angels, I command you to do these things. Be careful to do them without showing favor to anyone.

²² Think carefully before you lay your hands on^[c] anyone for the Lord’s service. Do not share in the sins of others. Keep yourself pure.

²³ Timothy, you stop drinking only water and drink a little wine. This will help your stomach, and you will not be sick so often.

²⁴ The sins of some people are easy to see even before they are judged. But the sins of others are seen only later. ²⁵ So also good deeds are easy to see. But even when they are not easy to see, they cannot stay hidden.