M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Animals That May Be Eaten^(A)

11 The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following regulations ² for the people of Israel. You may eat any land animal ³ that has divided hoofs and that also chews the cud, ^4-6 but you must not eat camels, rock badgers, or rabbits. These must be considered unclean; they chew the cud, but do not have divided hoofs. ⁷ Do not eat pigs. They must be considered unclean; they have divided hoofs, but do not chew the cud. ⁸ Do not eat these animals or even touch their dead bodies; they are unclean.

⁹ You may eat any kind of fish that has fins and scales, ¹⁰ but anything living in the water that does not have fins and scales must not be eaten. ¹¹ Such creatures must be considered unclean. You must not eat them or even touch their dead bodies. ¹² You must not eat anything that lives in the water and does not have fins and scales.

^13-19 You must not eat any of the following birds: eagles, owls, hawks, falcons; buzzards, vultures, crows; ostriches; seagulls, storks, herons, pelicans, cormorants;^[a] hoopoes; or bats.

²⁰ All winged insects are unclean, ²¹ except those that hop. ²² You may eat locusts, crickets, or grasshoppers. ²³ But all other small things that have wings and also crawl must be considered unclean.

^24-28 If you touch the dead bodies of the following animals, you will be unclean until evening: all animals with hoofs, unless their hoofs are divided and they chew the cud, and all four-footed animals with paws. If you carry their dead bodies, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

^29-30 Moles, rats, mice, and lizards must be considered unclean. ³¹ Whoever touches them or their dead bodies will be unclean until evening. ³² And if their dead bodies fall on anything, it will be unclean. This applies to any article of wood, cloth, leather, or sacking, no matter what it is used for. It shall be dipped in water, but it will remain unclean until evening. ³³ And if their bodies fall into a clay pot, everything that is in it shall be unclean, and you must break the pot. ³⁴ Any food which could normally be eaten, but on which water from such a pot has been poured, will be unclean, and anything drinkable in such a pot is unclean. ³⁵ Anything on which the dead bodies fall is unclean; a clay stove or oven shall be broken, ³⁶ but a spring or a cistern remains clean, although anything else that touches their dead bodies is unclean. ³⁷ If one of them falls on seed that is going to be planted, the seed remains clean. ³⁸ But if the seed is soaking in water and one of them falls on it, the seed is unclean.

³⁹ If any animal that may be eaten dies, anyone who touches it will be unclean until evening. ⁴⁰ And if any of you eat any part of the animal, you must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening; any of you who carry the dead body must wash your clothes, but you will still be unclean until evening.

⁴¹ You must not eat any of the small animals that move on the ground, ⁴² whether they crawl, or walk on four legs, or have many legs. ⁴³ Do not make yourselves unclean by eating any of these. ^44 (B)I am the Lord your God, and you must keep yourselves holy, because I am holy. ⁴⁵ I am the Lord who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

⁴⁶ This, then, is the law about animals and birds, about everything that lives in the water, and everything that moves on the ground. ⁴⁷ You must be careful to distinguish between what is ritually clean and unclean, between animals that may be eaten and those that may not.

The Purification of Women after Childbirth

12 The Lord gave Moses the following regulations ² for the people of Israel. For seven days after a woman gives birth to a son, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. ^3 (C)On the eighth day, the child shall be circumcised. ⁴ Then it will be thirty-three more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood; she must not touch anything that is holy or enter the sacred Tent until the time of her purification is completed.

⁵ For fourteen days after a woman gives birth to a daughter, she is ritually unclean, as she is during her monthly period. Then it will be sixty-six more days until she is ritually clean from her loss of blood.

⁶ When the time of her purification is completed, whether for a son or daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the Tent of the Lord's presence a one-year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. ⁷ The priest shall present her offering to the Lord and perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean. This, then, is what a woman must do after giving birth.

^8 (D)If the woman cannot afford a lamb, she shall bring two doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall perform the ritual to take away her impurity, and she will be ritually clean.

A Prayer for Help^[a]

Human Wickedness^[b](A)

26 Praise for a fool is out of place, like snow in summer or rain at harvest time.

² Curses cannot hurt you unless you deserve them. They are like birds that fly by and never light.

³ You have to whip a horse, you have to bridle a donkey, and you have to beat a fool.

⁴ If you answer a silly question, you are just as silly as the person who asked it.

⁵ Give a silly answer to a silly question, and the one who asked it will realize that he's not as smart as he thinks.

⁶ If you let a fool deliver a message, you might as well cut off your own feet; you are asking for trouble.

⁷ A fool can use a proverb about as well as crippled people can use their legs.

⁸ Praising someone who is stupid makes as much sense as tying a stone in a sling.

⁹ A fool quoting a wise saying reminds you of a drunk trying to pick a thorn out of his hand.

¹⁰ An employer who hires any fool that comes along is only hurting everybody concerned.^[a]

^11 (A)A fool doing some stupid thing a second time is like a dog going back to its vomit.

¹² The most stupid fool is better off than those who think they are wise when they are not.

¹³ Why don't lazy people ever get out of the house? What are they afraid of Lions?

¹⁴ Lazy people turn over in bed. They get no farther than a door swinging on its hinges.

¹⁵ Some people are too lazy to put food in their own mouths.

¹⁶ A lazy person will think he is smarter than seven men who can give good reasons for their opinions.

¹⁷ Getting involved in an argument that is none of your business is like going down the street and grabbing a dog by the ears.

^18-19 Someone who tricks someone else and then claims that he was only joking is like a crazy person playing with a deadly weapon.

²⁰ Without wood, a fire goes out; without gossip, quarreling stops.

²¹ Charcoal keeps the embers glowing, wood keeps the fire burning, and troublemakers keep arguments alive.

²² Gossip is so tasty! How we love to swallow it!

²³ Insincere^[b] talk that hides what you are really thinking is like a fine glaze^[c] on a cheap clay pot.

²⁴ A hypocrite hides hate behind flattering words. ²⁵ They may sound fine, but don't believe him, because his heart is filled to the brim with hate. ²⁶ He may disguise his hatred, but everyone will see the evil things he does.

^27 (B)People who set traps for others get caught themselves. People who start landslides get crushed.

²⁸ You have to hate someone to want to hurt him with lies. Insincere talk brings nothing but ruin.

Be Ready for the Lord's Coming

5 There is no need to write you, friends, about the times and occasions when these things will happen. ^2 (A)For you yourselves know very well that the Day of the Lord will come as a thief comes at night. ³ When people say, “Everything is quiet and safe,” then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape. ⁴ But you, friends, are not in the darkness, and the Day should not take you by surprise like a thief. ⁵ All of you are people who belong to the light, who belong to the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. ⁶ So then, we should not be sleeping like the others; we should be awake and sober. ⁷ It is at night when people sleep; it is at night when they get drunk. ^8 (B)But we belong to the day, and we should be sober. We must wear faith and love as a breastplate, and our hope of salvation as a helmet. ⁹ God did not choose us to suffer his anger, but to possess salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, ¹⁰ who died for us in order that we might live together with him, whether we are alive or dead when he comes. ¹¹ And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing.

Final Instructions and Greetings

¹² We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life. ¹³ Treat them with the greatest respect and love because of the work they do. Be at peace among yourselves.

¹⁴ We urge you, our friends, to warn the idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵ See that no one pays back wrong for wrong, but at all times make it your aim to do good to one another and to all people.

¹⁶ Be joyful always, ¹⁷ pray at all times, ¹⁸ be thankful in all circumstances. This is what God wants from you in your life in union with Christ Jesus.

¹⁹ Do not restrain the Holy Spirit; ²⁰ do not despise inspired messages. ²¹ Put all things to the test: keep what is good ²² and avoid every kind of evil.

²³ May the God who gives us peace make you holy in every way and keep your whole being—spirit, soul, and body—free from every fault at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. ²⁴ He who calls you will do it, because he is faithful.

²⁵ Pray also for us, friends.

²⁶ Greet all the believers with the kiss of peace.

²⁷ I urge you by the authority of the Lord to read this letter to all the believers.

²⁸ The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.