M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Religious Festivals
23 The Lord told Moses 2 to say to the community of Israel:
I have chosen certain times for you to come together and worship me.
3 (A) You have six days when you can do your work, but the seventh day of each week is holy because it belongs to me. No matter where you live, you must rest on the Sabbath and come together for worship. This law will never change.
Passover and the Festival of Thin Bread
(Numbers 28.16-25)
The Lord said:
4-5 (B) Passover is another time when you must come together to worship me, and it must be celebrated on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month[a] of each year.
6 (C) The Festival of Thin Bread begins on the fifteenth day of that same month; it lasts seven days, and during this time you must honor me by eating bread made without yeast. 7 On the first day of this festival you must rest from your work and come together for worship. 8 Each day of this festival you must offer sacrifices. Then on the final day you must once again rest from your work and come together for worship.
Offering the First Part of the Harvest
9 The Lord told Moses 10 to say to the community of Israel:
After you enter the land I am giving you, the first bundle of wheat from each crop must be given to me. So bring it to a priest 11 on the day after the Sabbath. He will lift it up[b] in dedication to me, and I will accept you. 12 You must also offer a sacrifice to please me.[c] So bring the priest a one-year-old lamb that has nothing wrong with it 13 and two kilograms of your finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then he will place these on the bronze altar and send them up in smoke with a smell that pleases me. Together with these, you must bring a liter of wine as a drink offering. 14 I am your God, and I forbid you to eat any new grain or anything made from it until you have brought these offerings. This law will never change.
The Harvest Festival
(Numbers 28.26-31)
The Lord said:
15 (D) Seven weeks after you offer this bundle of grain, each family must bring another offering of new grain. 16 Do this exactly 50 days later, which is the day following the seventh Sabbath. 17 Bring two loaves of bread to be lifted up[d] in dedication to me. Each loaf is to be made with yeast and with two kilograms of the finest flour from the first part of your harvest.
18 At this same time, the entire community of Israel must bring seven lambs that are a year old, a young bull, and two rams. These animals must have nothing wrong with them, and they must be offered as a sacrifice to please me.[e] You must also offer the proper grain and wine sacrifices with each animal.[f] 19 Offer a goat[g] as a sacrifice for sin, and two rams a year old as a sacrifice to ask my blessing.[h] 20 The priest will lift up[i] the rams together with the bread in dedication to me. These offerings are holy and are my gift to the priest. 21 This is a day of celebration and worship, a time of rest from your work. You and your descendants must obey this law.
22 (E) When you harvest your grain, always leave some of it standing around the edges of your fields and don't pick up what falls on the ground. Leave it for the poor and for those foreigners who live among you. I am the Lord your God!
The Festival of Trumpets
(Numbers 29.1-6)
23 The Lord told Moses 24-25 to say to the people of Israel:
The first day of the seventh month[j] must be a day of complete rest. Then at the sound of the trumpets, you will come together to worship and to offer sacrifices on the altar.
The Great Day of Forgiveness
(Numbers 29.7-11)
26 (F) The Lord God said to Moses:
27 The tenth day of the seventh month[k] is the Great Day of Forgiveness.[l] It is a solemn day of worship; everyone must go without eating to show sorrow for their sins, and sacrifices must be burned. 28 No one is to work on that day—it is the Great Day of Forgiveness, when sacrifices will be offered to me, so that I will forgive your sins. 29 I will destroy anyone who refuses to go without eating. 30-31 None of my people are ever to do any work on that day—not now or in the future. And I will wipe out those who do! 32 This is a time of complete rest just like the Sabbath, and everyone must go without eating from the evening of the ninth to the evening of the tenth.
The Festival of Shelters
(Numbers 29.12-40)
33 (G) The Lord told Moses 34 to say to the community of Israel:
Beginning on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,[m] and continuing for seven days, everyone must celebrate the Festival of Shelters in honor of me. 35 No one is to do any work on the first day of the festival—it is a time when everyone must come together for worship. 36 For seven days, sacrifices must be offered on the altar. The eighth day is also to be a day of complete rest, as well as a time of offering sacrifices on the altar and of coming together for worship.
37 I have chosen these festivals as times when my people must come together for worship and when animals, grain, and wine are to be offered on the proper days. 38 These festivals must be celebrated in addition to the Sabbaths and the times when you offer special gifts or sacrifices to keep a promise or as a voluntary offering.
39 Remember to begin the Festival of Shelters on the fifteenth day of the seventh month after you have harvested your crops. Celebrate this festival for seven days in honor of me and don't do any work on the first day or on the day following the festival. 40 Pick the best fruit from your trees[n] and cut leafy branches to use during the time of this joyous celebration in my honor. 41 I command you and all of your descendants to celebrate this festival during the seventh month of each year. 42 For seven days every Israelite must live in a shelter, 43 so future generations will know that I made their ancestors live in shelters when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
44 This is how Moses instructed the people of Israel to celebrate the Lord's festivals.
(A psalm by David for the dedication of the temple.)
A Prayer of Thanks
1 I will praise you, Lord!
You saved me from the grave
and kept my enemies
from celebrating my death.
2 I prayed to you, Lord God,
and you healed me,
3 saving me from death
and the grave.
4 Your faithful people, Lord,
will praise you with songs
and honor your holy name.
5 Your anger lasts a little while,
but your kindness lasts
for a lifetime.
At night we may cry,
but when morning comes
we will celebrate.
6 I felt secure and thought,
“I'll never be shaken!”
7 You, Lord, were my friend,
and you made me strong
as a mighty mountain.
But when you hid your face,
I was crushed.
8 I prayed to you, Lord,
and in my prayer I said,
9 “What good will it do you
if I am in the grave?
Once I have turned to dust,
how can I praise you
or tell how loyal you are?
10 Have pity, Lord! Help!”
11 You have turned my sorrow
into joyful dancing.
No longer am I sad
and wearing sackcloth.[a]
12 I thank you from my heart,
and I will never stop
singing your praises,
my Lord and my God.
Don't Depend on Wealth
6 There is something else terribly unfair, and it troubles everyone on earth. 2 God may give you everything you want—money, property, and wealth. Then God doesn't let you enjoy it, and someone you don't even know gets it all. That's senseless and terribly unfair!
3 You may live a long time and have a hundred children. But a child born dead is better off than you, unless you enjoy life and have a decent burial. 4-5 That child will never live to see the sun or to have a name, and it will go straight to the world of darkness. But it will still find more rest than you, 6 even if you live two thousand years and don't enjoy life. As you know, we all end up in the same place.
7 We struggle just to have enough to eat, but we are never satisfied. 8 We may be sensible, yet we are no better off than a fool. And if we are poor, it still doesn't do us any good to try to live right. 9 It's better to enjoy what we have than to always want something else, because that makes no more sense than chasing the wind.[a]
10 Everything that happens was decided long ago. We humans know what we are like, and we can't argue with God, because he is[b] too strong for us. 11 The more we talk, the less sense we make, so what good does it do to talk? 12 Life is short and meaningless, and it fades away like a shadow. Who knows what is best for us? Who knows what will happen after we are gone?
A Good Soldier of Christ Jesus
2 Timothy, my child, you must let Christ Jesus make you strong by his gift of undeserved grace. 2 You have often heard me teach. Now I want you to tell these same things to followers who can be trusted to tell others.
3 As a good soldier of Christ Jesus you must endure your share of suffering. 4 Soldiers on duty don't work at outside jobs. They try only to please their commanding officer. 5 No one wins an athletic contest without obeying the rules. 6 And farmers who work hard are the first to eat what grows in their field. 7 If you keep in mind what I have told you, the Lord will help you understand completely.
8 Keep your mind on Jesus Christ! He was from the family of David and was raised from death, just as my good news says. 9 And because of this message, I am locked up in jail and treated like a criminal. But God's good news isn't locked in jail, 10 and so I am willing to put up with anything. Then God's special people will be saved and given eternal glory because they belong to Christ Jesus. 11 Here is a true message:
“If we died with Christ,
we will live with him.
12 (A) If we don't give up,
we will rule with him.
If we deny
that we know him,
he will deny
that he knows us.
13 If we are not faithful,
he will still be faithful.
Christ cannot deny
who he is.”
An Approved Worker
14 Don't let anyone forget these things. And with God[a] as your witness, you must warn them not to argue about words. These arguments don't help anyone. In fact, they ruin everyone who listens to them. 15 Do your best to win God's approval as a worker who doesn't need to be ashamed and who teaches only the true message.
16 Keep away from worthless and useless talk. It only leads people farther away from God. 17 That sort of talk is like a sore that won't heal. And Hymenaeus and Philetus have been talking this way 18 by teaching that the dead have already been raised to life. This is far from the truth, and it is destroying the faith of some people.
19 But the foundation God has laid is solid. On it is written, “The Lord knows who his people are. So everyone who worships the Lord must turn away from evil.”
20 In a large house some dishes are made of gold or silver, while others are made of wood or clay. Some of these are special, and others are not. 21 This is also how it is with people. The ones who stop doing evil and make themselves pure will become special. Their lives will be holy and pleasing to their Master, and they will be able to do all kinds of good deeds.
22 Run from temptations that capture young people. Always do the right thing. Be faithful, loving, and easy to get along with. Worship with people whose hearts are pure. 23 Stay away from stupid and senseless arguments. These only lead to trouble, 24 and God's servants must not be troublemakers. They must be kind to everyone, and they must be good teachers and very patient.
25 Be humble when you correct people who oppose you. Maybe God will lead them to turn to him and learn the truth. 26 They have been trapped by the devil, and he makes them obey him, but God may help them escape.
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