◀ All Reading Plans / M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan / Family: Numbers 2; Psalm 36. Secret: Ecclesiastes 12; Philemon 1. (New American Bible (Revised Edition))

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The classic M'Cheyne plan--read the Old Testament, New Testament, and Psalms or Gospels every day.

Duration: 365 days

Numbers 2

Chapter 2

Arrangement of the Tribes. ¹The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: ²The Israelites shall camp, each in their own divisions, under the ensigns of their ancestral houses.^(A) They shall camp at some distance all around the tent of meeting.

³^[a]Encamped on the east side, toward the sunrise, shall be the divisional camp of Judah, arranged in companies. The leader of the Judahites is Nahshon, son of Amminadab, ⁴and the enrollment of his company is seventy-four thousand six hundred. ⁵Encamped beside it is the tribe of Issachar. The leader of the Issacharites is Nethanel, son of Zuar, ⁶and the enrollment of his company is fifty-four thousand four hundred. ⁷Also the tribe of Zebulun. The leader of the Zebulunites is Eliab, son of Helon, ⁸and the enrollment of his company is fifty-seven thousand four hundred. ⁹The total enrollment of the camp of Judah by companies is one hundred and eighty-six thousand four hundred. They shall be first on the march.

¹⁰The divisional camp of Reuben shall be on the south side, by companies. The leader of the Reubenites is Elizur, son of Shedeur, ¹¹and the enrollment of his company is forty-six thousand five hundred. ¹²Encamped beside it is the tribe of Simeon. The leader of the Simeonites is Shelumiel, son of Zurishaddai, ¹³and the enrollment of his company is fifty-nine thousand three hundred. ¹⁴Next is the tribe of Gad. The leader of the Gadites is Eliasaph, son of Reuel, ¹⁵and the enrollment of his company is forty-five thousand six hundred and fifty. ¹⁶The total enrollment of the camp of Reuben by companies is one hundred and fifty-one thousand four hundred and fifty. They shall be second on the march.

¹⁷Then the tent of meeting and the camp of the Levites shall set out in the midst of the divisions. As they camp, so also they will march, each in place, by their divisions.

¹⁸The divisional camp of Ephraim shall be on the west side, by companies. The leader of the Ephraimites is Elishama, son of Ammihud, ¹⁹and the enrollment of his company is forty thousand five hundred. ²⁰Beside it shall be the tribe of Manasseh. The leader of the Manassites is Gamaliel, son of Pedahzur, ²¹and the enrollment of his company is thirty-two thousand two hundred. ²²Also the tribe of Benjamin. The leader of the Benjaminites is Abidan, son of Gideoni, ²³and the enrollment of his company is thirty-five thousand four hundred. ²⁴The total enrollment of the camp of Ephraim by companies is one hundred and eight thousand one hundred. They shall be third on the march.

²⁵The divisional camp of Dan shall be on the north side, by companies. The leader of the Danites is Ahiezer, son of Ammishaddai, ²⁶and the enrollment of his company is sixty-two thousand seven hundred. ²⁷Encamped beside it shall be the tribe of Asher. The leader of the Asherites is Pagiel, son of Ochran, ²⁸and the enrollment of his company is forty-one thousand five hundred. ²⁹Also the tribe of Naphtali. The leader of the Naphtalites is Ahira, son of Enan, ³⁰and the enrollment of his company is fifty-three thousand four hundred. ³¹The total enrollment of the camp of Dan is one hundred and fifty-seven thousand six hundred. They shall be the last on the march, by divisions.

³²^(B)These are the enrollments of the Israelites according to their ancestral houses. The total enrollment of the camps by companies is six hundred and three thousand five hundred and fifty. ³³The Levites, however, were not enrolled with the other Israelites, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. ³⁴The Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses; both in camp and on the march they were in their own divisions, everyone by clan and according to ancestral house.

Psalm 36

Psalm 36^[a]

Human Wickedness and Divine Providence

¹For the leader. Of David, the servant of the Lord.

I

²Sin directs the heart of the wicked man;
    his eyes are closed to the fear of God.^(A)
³For he lives with the delusion:
    his guilt will not be known and hated.^[b]
⁴Empty and false are the words of his mouth;
    he has ceased to be wise and do good.
⁵On his bed he hatches plots;
    he sets out on a wicked way;
    he does not reject evil.^(B)

II

⁶^[c]Lord, your mercy reaches to heaven;
    your fidelity, to the clouds.^(C)
⁷Your justice is like the highest mountains;
    your judgments, like the mighty deep;
    human being and beast you sustain, Lord.
⁸How precious is your mercy, O God!
    The children of Adam take refuge in the shadow of your wings.^[d]^(D)
⁹They feast on the rich food of your house;
    from your delightful stream^(E) you give them drink.
¹⁰For with you is the fountain of life,^(F)
    and in your light we see light.^(G)
¹¹Show mercy on those who know you,
    your just defense to the upright of heart.
¹²Do not let the foot of the proud overtake me,
    nor the hand of the wicked disturb me.
¹³There make the evildoers fall;
    thrust them down, unable to rise.

Ecclesiastes 12

Chapter 12

¹^[a]Remember your Creator in the days of your youth,
    before the evil days come
And the years approach of which you will say,
    “I have no pleasure in them”;
²Before the sun is darkened
    and the light and the moon and the stars
    and the clouds return after the rain;
³^[b]When the guardians of the house tremble,
    and the strong men are bent;
When the women who grind are idle because they are few,
    and those who look through the windows grow blind;
⁴When the doors to the street are shut,
    and the sound of the mill is low;
When one rises at the call of a bird,
    and all the daughters of song are quiet;
⁵When one is afraid of heights,
    and perils in the street;
When the almond tree blooms,
    and the locust grows sluggish
    and the caper berry is without effect,
Because mortals go to their lasting home,
    and mourners go about the streets;
⁶^[c]Before the silver cord is snapped
    and the golden bowl is broken,
And the pitcher is shattered at the spring,
    and the pulley is broken at the well,
⁷And the dust returns to the earth as it once was,
    and the life breath returns to God who gave it.^[d]^(A)
⁸Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth,
    all things are vanity!^(B)

Epilogue. ⁹^[e]Besides being wise, Qoheleth taught the people knowledge, and weighed, scrutinized and arranged many proverbs. ¹⁰Qoheleth sought to find appropriate sayings, and to write down true sayings with precision. ¹¹The sayings of the wise are like goads; like fixed spikes are the collected sayings given by one shepherd.^[f] ¹²^(C)As to more than these,^[g] my son, beware. Of the making of many books there is no end, and in much study there is weariness for the flesh.

¹³^[h]^(D)The last word, when all is heard: Fear God and keep his commandments, for this concerns all humankind; ¹⁴^(E)because God will bring to judgment every work, with all its hidden qualities, whether good or bad.

Footnotes

12:1–7 The homage to life of 11:7–10 is deliberately balanced by the sombre yet shimmering radiance of this poem on old age and death. The poem’s enigmatic imagery has often been interpreted allegorically, especially in vv. 3–5. Above all it seeks to evoke an atmosphere as well as an attitude toward death and old age.
12:3–5 An allegorical reading of these verses sees references to the human body—“guardians”: the arms; “strong men”: the legs; “women who grind”: the teeth; “those who look”: the eyes; “the doors”: the lips; “daughters of song”: the voice; “the almond tree blooms”: resembling the white hair of old age; “the locust…sluggish”: the stiffness in movement of the aged; “the caper berry”: a stimulant for appetite.
12:6 The golden bowl suspended by the silver cord is a symbol of life; the snapping of the cord and the breaking of the bowl, a symbol of death. The pitcher…the pulley: another pair of metaphors for life and its ending.
12:7 Death is portrayed in terms of the description of creation in Gn 2:7; the body corrupts in the grave, and the life breath (lit., “spirit”), or gift of life, returns to God who had breathed upon what he had formed.
12:9 A disciple briefly describes and praises the master’s skill and reputation as a sage.
12:11 One shepherd: perhaps referring to the book’s author, who gathers or “shepherds” together its contents. God could also be “the one shepherd,” the ultimate depository and source of true wisdom.
12:12 As to more than these: the words seem to refer to the writings of Ecclesiastes and other sages. They are adequate and sufficient; any more involves exhaustive labor.
12:13–14 These words reaffirm traditional wisdom doctrine such as fear of God and faithful obedience, perhaps lest some of the more extreme statements of the author be misunderstood. Although the epilogue has been interpreted as a criticism of the book’s author, it is really a summary that betrays the unruffled spirit of later sages, who were not shocked by Qoheleth’s statements. They honored him as a hakam or sage (v. 9), even as they preserved his statements about the futility of life (v. 8), and the mystery of divine judgment (8:17; 11:5).

Philemon

Address and Greeting. ¹^[a]Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon, our beloved and our co-worker,^(A) ²to Apphia our sister,^[b] to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church at your house.^(B) ³Grace to you and peace^[c] from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.^(C)

Thanksgiving. ⁴^[d]^(D)I give thanks to my God always, remembering you in my prayers, ⁵as I hear of the love and the faith you have in the Lord Jesus and for all the holy ones,^[e] ⁶so that your partnership in the faith may become effective in recognizing every good there is in us^[f] that leads to Christ.^(E)

Plea for Onesimus. ⁷For I have experienced much joy and encouragement^[g] from your love, because the hearts of the holy ones have been refreshed by you, brother.^(F) ⁸Therefore, although I have the full right^[h] in Christ to order you to do what is proper, ⁹I rather urge you out of love, being as I am, Paul, an old man,^[i] and now also a prisoner for Christ Jesus.^(G) ¹⁰I urge you on behalf of my child Onesimus, whose father I have become in my imprisonment,^(H) ¹¹who was once useless to you but is now useful^[j] to [both] you and me. ¹²I am sending him, that is, my own heart, back to you. ¹³I should have liked to retain him for myself, so that he might serve^[k] me on your behalf in my imprisonment for the gospel,^(I) ¹⁴but I did not want to do anything without your consent, so that the good you do might not be forced but voluntary.^(J) ¹⁵Perhaps this is why he was away from^[l] you for a while, that you might have him back forever, ¹⁶no longer as a slave but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man^[m] and in the Lord.^(K) ¹⁷So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me. ¹⁸^[n]And if he has done you any injustice or owes you anything, charge it to me. ¹⁹I, Paul, write this in my own hand: I will pay. May I not tell you that you owe me your very self.^(L) ²⁰Yes, brother, may I profit from you in the Lord. Refresh my heart in Christ.

²¹With trust in your compliance I write to you, knowing that you will do even more than I say. ²²At the same time prepare a guest room for me, for I hope to be granted to you through your prayers.^(M)

Final Greetings. ²³Epaphras,^[o] my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, greets you,^(N) ²⁴as well as Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my co-workers. ²⁵The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.^(O)

Footnotes

1 Prisoner: as often elsewhere (cf. Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians especially), the second word in Greek enunciates the theme and sets the tone of the letter. Here it is the prisoner appealing rather than the apostle commanding.
2 Apphia our sister: sister is here used (like brother) to indicate a fellow Christian. The church at your house: your here is singular. It more likely refers to Philemon than to the last one named, Archippus; Philemon is then the owner of the slave Onesimus (Phlm 10). An alternate view is that the actual master of the slave is Archippus and that the one to whom the letter is addressed, Philemon, is the most prominent Christian there; see note on Col 4:17.
3 Grace…and peace: for this greeting, which may be a combination of Greek and Aramaic epistolary formulae, see note on Rom 1:1–7.
4 In my prayers: literally, “at the time of my prayers.”
5 Holy ones: a common term for members of the Christian community (so also Phlm 7).
6 In us: some good ancient manuscripts have in you (plural). That leads to Christ: leads to translates the Greek preposition eis, indicating direction or purpose.
7 Encouragement: the Greek word paraklēsis is cognate with the verb translated “urge” in Phlm 9, 10, and serves as an introduction to Paul’s plea. Hearts: literally, “bowels,” expressing in Semitic fashion the seat of the emotions, one’s “inmost self.” The same Greek word is used in Phlm 12 and again in Phlm 20, where it forms a literary inclusion marking off the body of the letter.
8 Full right: often translated “boldness,” the Greek word parrēsia connotes the full franchise of speech, as the right of a citizen to speak before the body politic, claimed by the Athenians as their privilege (Euripides).
9 Old man: some editors conjecture that Paul here used a similar Greek word meaning “ambassador” (cf. Eph 6:20). This conjecture heightens the contrast with “prisoner” but is totally without manuscript support.
11 Useless…useful: here Paul plays on the name Onesimus, which means “useful” or “beneficial.” The verb translated “profit” in Phlm 20 is cognate.
13 Serve: the Greek diakoneō could connote a ministry.
15 Was away from: literally, “was separated from,” but the same verb means simply “left” in Acts 18:1. It is a euphemism for his running away.
16 As a man: literally, “in the flesh.” With this and the following phrase, Paul describes the natural and spiritual orders.
18–19 Charge it to me…I will pay: technical legal and commercial terms in account keeping and acknowledgment of indebtedness.
23–24 Epaphras: a Colossian who founded the church there (Col 1:7) and perhaps also in Laodicea and Hierapolis (Col 2:1; 4:12–13). Aristarchus: a native of Thessalonica and fellow worker of Paul (Acts 19:29; 20:4; 27:2). For Mark, Demas, and Luke, see 2 Tm 4:9–13 and the note there.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 2

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Psalm 36^[a]

Human Wickedness and Divine Providence

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II

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Chapter 12

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M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Chapter 2

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Psalm 36[a]

Human Wickedness and Divine Providence

I

II

Footnotes

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Chapter 12

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Footnotes

Cross references

Psalm 36^[a]