M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Laws concerning Skin Diseases
13 The Lord gave Moses and Aaron these regulations. 2 If any of you have a sore on your skin or a boil or an inflammation which could develop into a dreaded skin disease, you shall be brought to the Aaronite priest. 3 The priest shall examine the sore, and if the hairs in it have turned white and the sore appears to be deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean. 4 But if the sore is white and does not appear to be deeper than the skin around it and the hairs have not turned white, the priest shall isolate you for seven days. 5 The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if in his opinion the sore looks the same and has not spread, he shall isolate you for another seven days. 6 The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if the sore has faded and has not spread, he shall pronounce you ritually clean; it is only a sore. You shall wash your clothes and be ritually clean. 7 But if the sore spreads after the priest has examined you and pronounced you clean, you must appear before the priest again. 8 The priest will examine you again, and if it has spread, he shall pronounce you unclean; it is a dreaded skin disease.
9 If any of you have a dreaded skin disease, you shall be brought to the priest, 10 who will examine you. If there is a white sore on your skin which turns the hairs white and is full of pus, 11 it is a chronic skin disease. The priest shall pronounce you unclean; there is no need to isolate you, because you are obviously unclean. 12 If the skin disease spreads and covers you from head to foot, 13 the priest shall examine you again. If he finds that it actually has covered the whole body, he shall pronounce you ritually clean. If your whole skin has turned white, you are ritually clean. 14 But from the moment an open sore appears, you are unclean. 15 The priest shall examine you again, and if he sees an open sore, he shall pronounce you unclean. An open sore means a dreaded skin disease, and you are unclean. 16 But when the sore heals and becomes white again, you shall go to the priest, 17 who will examine you again. If the sore has turned white, you are ritually clean, and the priest shall pronounce you clean.
18 If any of you have a boil that has healed 19 and if afterward a white swelling or a reddish-white spot appears where the boil was, you shall go to the priest. 20 The priest shall examine you, and if the spot seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it have turned white, he shall pronounce you unclean. It is a dreaded skin disease that has started in the boil. 21 But if the priest examines it and finds that the hairs in it have not turned white and that it is not deeper than the surrounding skin, but is light in color, the priest shall isolate you for seven days. 22 If the spot spreads, the priest shall pronounce you unclean; you are diseased. 23 But if it remains unchanged and does not spread, it is only the scar left from the boil, and the priest shall pronounce you ritually clean.
24 In case any of you have been burned, if the raw flesh becomes white or reddish-white, 25 the priest shall examine you. If the hairs in the spot have turned white and it appears deeper than the surrounding skin, it is a dreaded skin disease that has started in the burn, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean. 26 But if the hairs in it have not turned white and it is not deeper than the surrounding skin, but is light in color, the priest shall isolate you for seven days. 27 The priest shall examine you again on the seventh day, and if it is spreading, it is a dreaded skin disease, and the priest shall pronounce you unclean. 28 But if the spot remains unchanged and does not spread and is light in color, it is not a dreaded skin disease. The priest shall pronounce you ritually clean, because it is only a scar from the burn.
29 When any of you, male or female, have a sore on your head or chin, 30 the priest shall examine it. If it seems to be deeper than the surrounding skin and the hairs in it are yellowish and thin, it is a dreaded skin disease, and he shall pronounce you unclean. 31 If, when the priest examines you, the sore does not appear to be deeper than the surrounding skin, but there are still no healthy hairs in it, he shall isolate you for seven days. 32 The priest shall examine the sore again on the seventh day, and if it has not spread and there are no yellowish hairs in it and it does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin, 33 you shall shave the head except the area around the sore. The priest shall then isolate you for another seven days. 34 On the seventh day the priest shall again examine the sore, and if it has not spread and does not seem to be deeper than the surrounding skin, he shall pronounce you ritually clean. You shall wash your clothes, and you will be clean. 35 But if the sore spreads after you have been pronounced clean, 36 the priest shall examine you again. If the sore has spread, he need not look for yellowish hairs; you are obviously unclean. 37 But if in the priest's opinion the sore has not spread and healthy hairs are growing in it, the sore has healed, and the priest shall pronounce you ritually clean.
38 When any of you, male or female, have white spots on the skin, 39 the priest shall examine you. If the spots are dull white, it is only a blemish that has broken out on the skin; you are ritually clean.
40-41 If you lose your hair at the back or the front of your head, this does not make you unclean. 42 But if a reddish-white sore appears on the bald spot, it is a dreaded skin disease. 43 The priest shall examine you, and if there is a reddish-white sore, 44 the priest shall pronounce you unclean, because of the dreaded skin disease on your head.
45 If you have a dreaded skin disease, you must wear torn clothes, leave your hair uncombed, cover the lower part of your face, and call out, “Unclean, unclean!” 46 You remain unclean as long as you have the disease, and you must live outside the camp, away from others.
Laws concerning Mildew
47 When there is mildew[a] on clothing, whether wool or linen, 48 or on any piece of linen or wool cloth or on leather or anything made of leather, 49 if it is greenish or reddish, it is a spreading mildew and must be shown to the priest. 50 The priest shall examine it and put the object away for seven days. 51 He shall examine it again on the seventh day, and if the mildew has spread, the object is unclean. 52 The priest shall burn it, because it is a spreading mildew which must be destroyed by fire.
53 But if, when he examines it, the priest finds that the mildew has not spread on the object, 54 he shall order that it be washed and put away for another seven days. 55 Then he shall examine it, and if the mildew has not changed color, even though it has not spread, it is still unclean; you must burn the object, whether the rot is on the front or the back. 56 But if, when the priest examines it again, the mildew has faded, he shall tear it out of the clothing or leather. 57 Then, if the mildew reappears, it is spreading again, and the owner shall burn the object. 58 If he washes the object and the spot disappears, he shall wash it again, and it will be ritually clean.
59 This, then, is the law about mildew on clothing, whether it is wool or linen, or on linen or wool cloth or on anything made of leather; this is how the decision is made as to whether it is ritually clean or unclean.
What God Requires[a]
15 Lord, who may enter your Temple?
Who may worship on Zion, your sacred hill?[b]
2 Those who obey God in everything
and always do what is right,
whose words are true and sincere,
3 and who do not slander others.
They do no wrong to their friends
nor spread rumors about their neighbors.
4 They despise those whom God rejects,
but honor those who obey the Lord.
They always do what they promise,
no matter how much it may cost.
5 They make loans without charging interest
and cannot be bribed to testify against the innocent.
Whoever does these things will always be secure.
A Prayer of Confidence[c]
16 Protect me, O God; I trust in you for safety.
2 I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord;
all the good things I have come from you.”
3 How excellent are the Lord's faithful people!
My greatest pleasure is to be with them.
4 Those who rush to other gods
bring many troubles on themselves.[d]
I will not take part in their sacrifices;
I will not worship their gods.
5 You, Lord, are all I have,
and you give me all I need;
my future is in your hands.
6 How wonderful are your gifts to me;
how good they are!
7 I praise the Lord, because he guides me,
and in the night my conscience warns me.
8 I am always aware of the Lord's presence;
he is near, and nothing can shake me.
9 And so I am thankful and glad,
and I feel completely secure,
10 (A)because you protect me from the power of death.
I have served you faithfully,
and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead.
11 (B)You will show me the path that leads to life;
your presence fills me with joy
and brings me pleasure forever.
27 (A)Never boast about tomorrow. You don't know what will happen between now and then.
2 Let other people praise you—even strangers; never do it yourself.
3 The weight of stone and sand is nothing compared to the trouble that stupidity can cause.
4 Anger is cruel and destructive, but it is nothing compared to jealousy.
5 Better to correct someone openly than to let him think you don't care for him at all.
6 Friends mean well, even when they hurt you. But when an enemy puts his arm around your shoulder—watch out!
7 When you are full, you will refuse honey, but when you are hungry, even bitter food tastes sweet.
8 Anyone away from home is like a bird away from its nest.
9 Perfume and fragrant oils make you feel happier, but trouble shatters your peace of mind.[a]
10 Do not forget your friends or your father's friends. If you are in trouble, don't ask a relative for help; a nearby neighbor can help you more than relatives who are far away.
11 Be wise, my child, and I will be happy; I will have an answer for anyone who criticizes me.
12 Sensible people will see trouble coming and avoid it, but an unthinking person will walk right into it and regret it later.
13 Any people stupid enough to promise to be responsible for a stranger's debts[b] deserve to have their own property held to guarantee payment.
14 You might as well curse your friends as wake them up early in the morning with a loud greeting.
15 A nagging wife is like water going drip-drip-drip on a rainy day. 16 How can you keep her quiet? Have you ever tried to stop the wind or ever tried to hold a handful of oil?[c]
17 People learn from one another, just as iron sharpens iron.
18 Take care of a fig tree and you will have figs to eat. Servants who take care of their master will be honored.
19 It is your own face that you see reflected in the water and it is your own self that you see in your heart.
20 Human desires are like the world of the dead—there is always room for more.
21 Fire tests gold and silver; a person's reputation can also be tested.
22 Even if you beat fools half to death, you still can't beat their foolishness out of them.
23 Look after your sheep and cattle as carefully as you can, 24 because wealth is not permanent. Not even nations last forever. 25 You cut the hay and then cut the grass on the hillsides while the next crop of hay is growing. 26 You can make clothes from the wool of your sheep and buy land with the money you get from selling some of your goats. 27 The rest of the goats will provide milk for you and your family, and for your servant women as well.
1 (A)From Paul, Silas, and Timothy—
To the people of the church in Thessalonica, who belong to God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ:
2 May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.
The Judgment at Christ's Coming
3 Our friends, we must thank God at all times for you. It is right for us to do so, because your faith is growing so much and the love each of you has for the others is becoming greater. 4 That is why we ourselves boast about you in the churches of God. We boast about the way you continue to endure and believe through all the persecutions and sufferings you are experiencing.
5 All of this proves that God's judgment is just and as a result you will become worthy of his Kingdom, for which you are suffering. 6 God will do what is right: he will bring suffering on those who make you suffer, 7 and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 with a flaming fire, to punish those who reject God and who do not obey the Good News about our Lord Jesus. 9 (B)They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from his glorious might, 10 when he comes on that Day to receive glory from all his people and honor from all who believe. You too will be among them, because you have believed the message that we told you.
11 That is why we always pray for you. We ask our God to make you worthy of the life he has called you to live. May he fulfill by his power all your desire for goodness and complete your work of faith. 12 In this way the name of our Lord Jesus will receive glory from you, and you from him, by the grace of our God and of the Lord[a] Jesus Christ.
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.