M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
2 “Anyone who wishes to sacrifice a grain offering to the Lord is to bring fine flour and is to pour olive oil and incense upon it. 2 Then he is to take a handful, representing the entire amount,[a] to one of the priests to burn, and the Lord will be fully pleased. 3 The remainder of the flour is to be given to Aaron and his sons as their food; but all of it is counted as a holy burnt offering to the Lord.
4 “If bread baked in the oven is brought as an offering to the Lord, it must be made from finely ground flour, baked with olive oil but without yeast. Wafers made without yeast and spread with olive oil may also be used as an offering. 5 If the offering is something from the griddle, it shall be made of finely ground flour without yeast, and mingled with olive oil. 6 Break it into pieces and pour oil upon it—it is a form of grain offering. 7 If your offering is cooked in a pan, it too shall be made of fine flour mixed with olive oil.
8 “However it is prepared—whether baked, fried, or grilled—you are to bring this grain offering to the priest and he shall take it to the altar to present it to the Lord.
9 “The priests are to burn only a representative portion[b] of the offering, but all of it will be fully appreciated by the Lord. 10 The remainder belongs to the priests for their own use, but it is all counted as a holy burnt offering to the Lord.
11 “Use no yeast with your offerings of flour; for no yeast or honey is permitted in burnt offerings to the Lord. 12 You may offer yeast bread and honey as thanksgiving offerings at harvest time, but not as burnt offerings.[c]
13 “Every offering must be seasoned with salt,[d] because the salt is a reminder of God’s covenant.
14 “If you are offering from the first of your harvest, remove the kernels from a fresh ear, crush and roast them, then offer them to the Lord. 15 Put olive oil and incense on the offering, for it is a grain offering. 16 Then the priests shall burn part of the bruised grain mixed with oil and all of the incense as a representative portion before the Lord.
3 “When anyone wants to give an offering of thanksgiving to the Lord, he may use either a bull or a cow, but the animal must be entirely without defect if it is to be offered to the Lord! 2 The man who brings the animal shall lay his hand upon its head and kill it at the door of the Tabernacle. Then Aaron’s sons shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar 3-5 and shall burn before the Lord the fat that covers the inward parts, the two kidneys and the loin fat on them, and the gall bladder. And it will give the Lord much pleasure.
6 “If a goat or sheep is used as a thank offering to the Lord, it must have no defect and may be either a male or female.
7-8 “If it is a lamb, the man who brings it shall lay his hand upon its head and kill it at the entrance of the Tabernacle; the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar, 9-11 and shall offer upon the altar the fat, the tail removed close to the backbone, the fat covering the internal organs, the two kidneys with the loin fat on them, and the gall bladder, as a burnt offering to the Lord.
12 “If anyone brings a goat as his offering to the Lord, 13 he shall lay his hand upon its head and kill it at the entrance of the Tabernacle. The priest shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar, 14 and shall offer upon the altar, as a burnt offering to the Lord, the fat that covers the insides, 15-16 the two kidneys and the loin fat on them, and the gall bladder. This burnt offering is very pleasing to the Lord. All the fat is Jehovah’s. 17 This is a permanent law throughout your land, that you shall eat neither fat nor blood.”
21 Later Jesus appeared again to the disciples beside the Lake of Galilee. This is how it happened:
2 A group of us were there—Simon Peter, Thomas, “The Twin,” Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, my brother James and I[a] and two other disciples.
3 Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing.”
“We’ll come too,” we all said. We did, but caught nothing all night. 4 At dawn we saw a man standing on the beach but couldn’t see who he was.
5 He called, “Any fish, boys?”[b]
“No,” we replied.
6 Then he said, “Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get plenty of them!” So we did, and couldn’t draw in the net because of the weight of the fish, there were so many!
7 Then I[c] said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” At that, Simon Peter put on his tunic (for he was stripped to the waist) and jumped into the water and swam ashore. 8 The rest of us stayed in the boat and pulled the loaded net to the beach, about 300 feet away. 9 When we got there, we saw that a fire was kindled and fish were frying over it, and there was bread.
10 “Bring some of the fish you’ve just caught,” Jesus said. 11 So Simon Peter went out and dragged the net ashore. By his count there were 153 large fish; and yet the net hadn’t torn.
12 “Now come and have some breakfast!” Jesus said; and none of us dared ask him if he really was the Lord, for we were quite sure of it. 13 Then Jesus went around serving us the bread and fish.
14 This was the third time Jesus had appeared to us since his return from the dead.
15 After breakfast Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these others?”[d]
“Yes,” Peter replied, “you know I am your friend.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
16 Jesus repeated the question:
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I am your friend.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
17 Once more he asked him, “Simon, son of John, are you even my friend?”
Peter was grieved at the way Jesus asked the question this third time. “Lord, you know my heart;[e] you know I am,” he said.
Jesus said, “Then feed my little sheep. 18 When you were young, you were able to do as you liked and go wherever you wanted to; but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands and others will direct you and take you where you don’t want to go.” 19 Jesus said this to let him know what kind of death he would die to glorify God. Then Jesus told him, “Follow me.”
20 Peter turned around and saw the disciple Jesus loved following, the one who had leaned around at supper that time to ask Jesus, “Master, which of us will betray you?” 21 Peter asked Jesus, “What about him, Lord? What sort of death will he die?”[f]
22 Jesus replied, “If I want him to live[g]
23 So the rumor spread among the brotherhood that that disciple wouldn’t die! But that isn’t what Jesus said at all! He only said, “If I want him to live until I come, what is that to you?”
24 I am that disciple! I saw these events and have recorded them here. And we all know that my account of these things is accurate.
25 And I suppose that if all the other events in Jesus’ life were written, the whole world could hardly contain the books!
18 The selfish man quarrels against every sound principle of conduct by demanding his own way.
2 A rebel doesn’t care about the facts. All he wants to do is yell.[a]
3 Sin brings disgrace.
4 A wise man’s words express deep streams of thought.
5 It is wrong for a judge to favor the wicked and condemn the innocent.
6-7 A fool gets into constant fights. His mouth is his undoing! His words endanger him.
8 What dainty morsels rumors are. They are eaten with great relish!
9 A lazy man is brother to the saboteur.
10 The Lord[b] is a strong fortress. The godly run to him and are safe.
11 The rich man thinks of his wealth as an impregnable defense, a high wall of safety. What a dreamer!
12 Pride ends in destruction; humility ends in honor.
13 What a shame—yes, how stupid!—to decide before knowing the facts!
14 A man’s courage[c] can sustain his broken body, but when courage dies, what hope is left?
15 The intelligent man is always open to new ideas. In fact, he looks for them.
16 A gift does wonders; it will bring you before men of importance!
17 Any story sounds true until someone tells the other side and sets the record straight.
18 A coin toss[d] ends arguments and settles disputes between powerful opponents.
19 It is harder to win back the friendship of an offended brother than to capture a fortified city.[e] His anger shuts you out like iron bars.
20 Ability to give wise advice satisfies like a good meal!
21 Those who love to talk will suffer the consequences. Men have died for saying the wrong thing!
22 The man who finds a wife finds a good thing; she is a blessing to him from the Lord.
23 The poor man pleads, and the rich man answers with insults.
24 There are “friends” who pretend to be friends, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.
1 From: Paul, chosen by God to be Jesus Christ’s messenger, and from Brother Timothy.
2 To: The faithful Christian brothers—God’s people—in the city of Colosse.
May God our Father shower you with blessings and fill you with his great peace.
3 Whenever we pray for you, we always begin by giving thanks to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 for we have heard how much you trust the Lord, and how much you love his people. 5 And you are looking forward to the joys of heaven, and have been ever since the Gospel first was preached to you. 6 The same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world and changing lives everywhere, just as it changed yours that very first day you heard it and understood about God’s great kindness to sinners.
7 Epaphras, our much-loved fellow worker, was the one who brought you this Good News. He is Jesus Christ’s faithful slave, here to help us in your place. 8 And he is the one who has told us about the great love for others that the Holy Spirit has given you.
9 So ever since we first heard about you we have kept on praying and asking God to help you understand what he wants you to do; asking him to make you wise about spiritual things; 10 and asking that the way you live will always please the Lord and honor him, so that you will always be doing good, kind things for others, while all the time you are learning to know God better and better.
11 We are praying, too, that you will be filled with his mighty, glorious strength so that you can keep going no matter what happens—always full of the joy of the Lord, 12 and always thankful to the Father who has made us fit to share all the wonderful things that belong to those who live in the Kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us out of the darkness and gloom of Satan’s kingdom and brought us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, 14 who bought our freedom with his blood and forgave us all our sins.
15 Christ is the exact likeness of the unseen God. He existed before God made anything at all,[a] and, in fact, 16 Christ himself is the Creator who made everything in heaven and earth, the things we can see and the things we can’t; the spirit world with its kings and kingdoms, its rulers and authorities; all were made by Christ for his own use and glory. 17 He was before all else began and it is his power that holds everything together. 18 He is the Head of the body made up of his people—that is, his Church—which he began; and he is the Leader of all those who arise from the dead,[b] so that he is first in everything; 19 for God wanted all of himself to be in his Son.
20 It was through what his Son did that God cleared a path for everything to come to him—all things in heaven and on earth—for Christ’s death on the cross has made peace with God for all by his blood. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies and hated him and were separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, yet now he has brought you back as his friends. 22 He has done this through the death on the cross of his own human body, and now as a result Christ has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are standing there before him with nothing left against you—nothing left that he could even chide you for; 23 the only condition is that you fully believe the Truth, standing in it steadfast and firm, strong in the Lord, convinced of the Good News that Jesus died for you, and never shifting from trusting him to save you. This is the wonderful news that came to each of you and is now spreading all over the world. And I, Paul, have the joy of telling it to others.
24 But part of my work is to suffer for you; and I am glad, for I am helping to finish up the remainder of Christ’s sufferings for his body, the Church.
25 God has sent me to help his Church and to tell his secret plan to you Gentiles. 26-27 He has kept this secret for centuries and generations past, but now at last it has pleased him to tell it to those who love him and live for him, and the riches and glory of his plan are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ in your hearts is your only hope of glory.
28 So everywhere we go we talk about Christ to all who will listen, warning them and teaching them as well as we know how. We want to be able to present each one to God, perfect because of what Christ has done for each of them. 29 This is my work, and I can do it only because Christ’s mighty energy is at work within me.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.