M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

35 Now Moses called a meeting of all the people and told them, “These are the laws of Jehovah you must obey.

² “Work six days only; the seventh day is a day of solemn rest, a holy day to be used to worship Jehovah; anyone working on that day must die. ³ Don’t even light the fires in your homes that day.”

⁴ Then Moses said to all the people, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ^5-9 All of you who wish to, all those with generous hearts, may bring these offerings to Jehovah:

^10-19 “Come, all of you who are skilled craftsmen having special talents, and construct what God has commanded us:

²⁰ So all the people went to their tents to prepare their gifts. ²¹ Those whose hearts were stirred by God’s Spirit returned with their offerings of materials for the Tabernacle, its equipment, and for the holy garments. ²² Both men and women came, all who had willing hearts. They brought to the Lord their offerings of gold, jewelry—earrings, rings from their fingers, necklaces—and gold objects of every kind. ²³ Others brought blue, purple, and scarlet cloth made from the fine-twined linen or goats’ hair; and rams’ skins dyed red, and specially treated goatskins. ²⁴ Others brought silver and bronze as their offering to the Lord; and some brought the acacia wood needed in the construction.

²⁵ The women skilled in sewing and spinning prepared blue, purple, and scarlet thread and cloth, and fine-twined linen, and brought them in. ²⁶ Some other women gladly used their special skill to spin the goats’ hair into cloth. ²⁷ The leaders brought onyx stones to be used for the ephod and the chestpiece; ²⁸ and spices, and oil—for the light, and for compounding the anointing oil and the sweet incense. ²⁹ So the people of Israel—every man and woman who wanted to assist in the work given to them by the Lord’s command to Moses—brought their freewill offerings to him.

^30-31 And Moses told them, “Jehovah has specifically appointed Bezalel (the son of Uri and grandson of Hur of the tribe of Judah) as general superintendent of the project. ³² He will be able to create beautiful workmanship from gold, silver, and bronze; ³³ he can cut and set stones like a jeweler and can do beautiful carving; in fact, he has every needed skill. ³⁴ And God has made him and Oholiab gifted teachers of their skills to others. (Oholiab is the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan.) ³⁵ God has filled them both with unusual skills as jewelers, carpenters, embroidery designers in blue, purple, and scarlet on linen backgrounds, and as weavers—they excel in all the crafts we will be needing in the work.

14 “Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. ^2-3 There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly. ⁴ And you know where I am going and how to get there.”

⁵ “No, we don’t,” Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. ⁷ If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him—and have seen him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Sir, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “Don’t you even yet know who I am, Philip, even after all this time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own but are from my Father who lives in me. And he does his work through me. ¹¹ Just believe it—that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or else believe it because of the mighty miracles you have seen me do.

^12-13 “In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask him for anything, using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. ¹⁴ Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!

^15-16 “If you love me, obey me; and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, for it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, for he lives with you now and some day shall be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you. ¹⁹ In just a little while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present with you. For I will live again—and you will too. ²⁰ When I come back to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.”

²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but his other disciple with that name) said to him, “Sir, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us disciples and not to the world at large?”

²³ Jesus replied, “Because I will only reveal myself to those who love me and obey me. The Father will love them too, and we will come to them and live with them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t obey me doesn’t love me. And remember, I am not making up this answer to your question! It is the answer given by the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶ But when the Father sends the Comforter^[a] instead of me—and by the Comforter I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you much, as well as remind you of everything I myself have told you.

²⁷ “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.^{[b] 28} Remember what I told you—I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me.^[c]

³⁰ “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, for the evil prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, ³¹ but I will freely do what the Father requires of me so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.

11 The Lord hates cheating and delights in honesty.

² Proud men end in shame, but the meek become wise.

³ A good man is guided by his honesty; the evil man is destroyed by his dishonesty.

⁴ Your riches won’t help you on Judgment Day; only righteousness counts then.

⁵ Good people are directed by their honesty; the wicked shall fall beneath their load of sins.

⁶ The good man’s goodness delivers him; the evil man’s treachery is his undoing.

⁷ When an evil man dies, his hopes all perish, for they are based upon this earthly life.

⁸ God rescues good men from danger while letting the wicked fall into it.

⁹ Evil words destroy; godly skill rebuilds.^[a]

¹⁰ The whole city celebrates a good man’s success—and also the godless man’s death.

¹¹ The good influence of godly citizens causes a city to prosper, but the moral decay of the wicked drives it downhill.

¹² To quarrel with a neighbor is foolish; a man with good sense holds his tongue.

¹³ A gossip goes around spreading rumors, while a trustworthy man tries to quiet them.

¹⁴ Without wise leadership, a nation is in trouble; but with good counselors there is safety.

¹⁵ Be sure you know a person well before you vouch for his credit! Better refuse than suffer later.

¹⁶ Honor goes to kind and gracious women, mere^[b] money to cruel men.

¹⁷ Your own soul is nourished when you are kind; it is destroyed when you are cruel.

¹⁸ The evil man gets rich for the moment, but the good man’s reward lasts forever.

¹⁹ The good man finds life; the evil man, death.

²⁰ The Lord hates the stubborn but delights in those who are good.

²¹ You can be very sure the evil man will not go unpunished forever. And you can also be very sure God will rescue the children of the godly.

²² A beautiful woman lacking discretion and modesty is like a fine gold ring in a pig’s snout.

²³ The good man can look forward to happiness, while the wicked can expect only wrath.

^24-25 It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. Yes, the liberal man shall be rich! By watering others, he waters himself.

²⁶ People curse the man who holds his grain for higher prices, but they bless the man who sells it to them in their time of need.

²⁷ If you search for good, you will find God’s favor; if you search for evil, you will find his curse.

²⁸ Trust in your money and down you go! Trust in God and flourish as a tree!

²⁹ The fool who provokes his family to anger and resentment will finally have nothing worthwhile left. He shall be the servant of a wiser man.

³⁰ Godly men are growing a tree that bears life-giving fruit, and all who win souls are wise.^[c]

³¹ Even the godly shall be rewarded here on earth; how much more the wicked!

4 I beg you—I, a prisoner here in jail for serving the Lord—to live and act in a way worthy of those who have been chosen for such wonderful blessings as these. ² Be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. ³ Try always to be led along together by the Holy Spirit and so be at peace with one another.

⁴ We are all parts of one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future. ⁵ For us there is only one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ and we all have the same God and Father who is over us all and in us all, and living through every part of us. ⁷ However, Christ has given each of us special abilities—whatever he wants us to have out of his rich storehouse of gifts.

⁸ The psalmist tells about this, for he says that when Christ returned triumphantly to heaven after his resurrection and victory over Satan, he gave generous gifts to men. ⁹ Notice that it says he returned to heaven. This means that he had first come down from the heights of heaven, far down to the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁰ The same one who came down is the one who went back up, that he might fill all things everywhere with himself, from the very lowest to the very highest.

¹¹ Some of us have been given special ability as apostles; to others he has given the gift of being able to preach well; some have special ability in winning people to Christ, helping them to trust him as their Savior; still others have a gift for caring for God’s people as a shepherd does his sheep, leading and teaching them in the ways of God.

¹² Why is it that he gives us these special abilities to do certain things best? It is that God’s people will be equipped to do better work for him, building up the Church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity; ¹³ until finally we all believe alike about our salvation and about our Savior, God’s Son, and all become full-grown in the Lord—yes, to the point of being filled full with Christ.

¹⁴ Then we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. ^15-16 Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times—speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly^[a]—and so become more and more in every way like Christ who is the Head of his body, the Church. Under his direction, the whole body is fitted together perfectly, and each part in its own special way helps the other parts, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.

^17-18 Let me say this, then, speaking for the Lord: Live no longer as the unsaved do, for they are blinded and confused. Their closed hearts are full of darkness; they are far away from the life of God because they have shut their minds against him, and they cannot understand his ways. ¹⁹ They don’t care anymore about right and wrong and have given themselves over to impure ways. They stop at nothing, being driven by their evil minds and reckless lusts.

²⁰ But that isn’t the way Christ taught you! ²¹ If you have really heard his voice and learned from him the truths concerning himself, ²² then throw off your old evil nature—the old you that was a partner in your evil ways—rotten through and through, full of lust and sham.

²³ Now your attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. ²⁴ Yes, you must be a new and different person, holy and good. Clothe yourself with this new nature.

²⁵ Stop lying to each other; tell the truth, for we are parts of each other and when we lie to each other we are hurting ourselves. ²⁶ If you are angry, don’t sin by nursing your grudge. Don’t let the sun go down with you still angry—get over it quickly; ²⁷ for when you are angry, you give a mighty foothold to the devil.

²⁸ If anyone is stealing he must stop it and begin using those hands of his for honest work so he can give to others in need. ²⁹ Don’t use bad language. Say only what is good and helpful to those you are talking to, and what will give them a blessing.

³⁰ Don’t cause the Holy Spirit sorrow by the way you live. Remember, he is the one who marks you to be present on that day when salvation from sin will be complete.^[b]

³¹ Stop being mean, bad-tempered, and angry. Quarreling, harsh words, and dislike of others should have no place in your lives. ³² Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God has forgiven you because you belong to Christ.