M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Laws of Holiness and Justice

19 The Lord told Moses ^2 (A)to say to the community of Israel, “Be holy, because I, the Lord your God, am holy. ^3 (B)Each of you must respect your mother and your father, and must keep the Sabbath, as I have commanded. I am the Lord your God.

^4 (C)“Do not abandon me and worship idols; do not make gods of metal and worship them. I am the Lord your God.

⁵ “When you kill an animal for a fellowship offering, keep the regulations that I have given you, and I will accept the offering. ⁶ The meat must be eaten on the day the animal is killed or on the next day. Any meat left on the third day must be burned, ⁷ because it is ritually unclean, and if anyone eats it, I will not accept the offering. ⁸ Any who eat it will be guilty of treating as ordinary what is dedicated to me, and they will no longer be considered my people.

^9 (D)“When you harvest your fields, do not cut the grain at the edges of the fields, and do not go back to cut the heads of grain that were left. ¹⁰ Do not go back through your vineyard to gather the grapes that were missed or to pick up the grapes that have fallen; leave them for poor people and foreigners. I am the Lord your God.

^11 (E)“Do not steal or cheat or lie. ^12 (F)Do not make a promise in my name if you do not intend to keep it; that brings disgrace on my name. I am the Lord your God.

^13 (G)“Do not rob or take advantage of anyone. Do not hold back the wages of someone you have hired, not even for one night. ^14 (H)Do not curse the deaf or put something in front of the blind so as to make them stumble over it. Obey me; I am the Lord your God.

^15 (I)“Be honest and just when you make decisions in legal cases; do not show favoritism to the poor or fear the rich. ¹⁶ Do not spread lies about anyone, and when someone is on trial for his life, speak out if your testimony can help him. I am the Lord.

^17 (J)“Do not bear a grudge against others, but settle your differences with them, so that you will not commit a sin because of them.^{[a] 18 (K)}Do not take revenge on others or continue to hate them, but love your neighbors as you love yourself. I am the Lord.

^19 (L)“Obey my commands. Do not crossbreed domestic animals. Do not plant two kinds of seed in the same field. Do not wear clothes made of two kinds of material.

²⁰ “If a slave woman is the recognized concubine of a man and she has not been paid for and freed, then if another man has sexual relations with her, they will be punished, but not^[b] put to death, since she is a slave. ²¹ The man shall bring a ram to the entrance of the Tent of my presence as his repayment offering, ²² and with it the priest shall perform the ritual of purification to remove the man's sin, and God will forgive him.

²³ “When you come into the land of Canaan and plant any kind of fruit tree, consider the fruit ritually unclean for the first three years. During that time you must not eat it. ²⁴ In the fourth year all the fruit shall be dedicated as an offering to show your gratitude to me,^[c] the Lord. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you may eat the fruit. If you do all this, your trees will bear more fruit. I am the Lord your God.

^26 (M)“Do not eat any meat with blood still in it. Do not practice any kind of magic. ^27 (N)Do not cut the hair on the sides of your head or trim your beard ²⁸ or tattoo yourselves or cut gashes in your body to mourn for the dead. I am the Lord.

^29 (O)“Do not disgrace your daughters by making them temple prostitutes;^[d] if you do, you will turn to other gods and the land will be full of immorality. ^30 (P)Keep the Sabbath, and honor the place where I am worshiped. I am the Lord.

^31 (Q)“Do not go for advice to people who consult the spirits of the dead. If you do, you will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord your God.

³² “Show respect for old people and honor them. Reverently obey me; I am the Lord.

^33 (R)“Do not mistreat foreigners who are living in your land. ³⁴ Treat them as you would an Israelite, and love them as you love yourselves. Remember that you were once foreigners in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

^35 (S)“Do not cheat anyone by using false measures of length, weight, or quantity. ³⁶ Use honest scales, honest weights, and honest measures. I am the Lord your God, and I brought you out of Egypt. ³⁷ Obey all my laws and commands. I am the Lord.”

The Lord Our Shepherd^[a]

The Great King^[b]

2 I decided to enjoy myself and find out what happiness is. But I found that this is useless, too. ² I discovered that laughter is foolish, that pleasure does you no good. ³ Driven on by my desire for wisdom, I decided to cheer myself up with wine and have a good time. I thought that this might be the best way people can spend their short lives on earth.

^4 (A)I accomplished great things. I built myself houses and planted vineyards. ⁵ I planted gardens and orchards, with all kinds of fruit trees in them; ⁶ I dug ponds to irrigate them. ^7 (B)I bought many slaves, and there were slaves born in my household. I owned more livestock than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem. ^8 (C)I also piled up silver and gold from the royal treasuries of the lands I ruled. Men and women sang to entertain me, and I had all the women a man could want.

^9 (D)Yes, I was great, greater than anyone else who had ever lived in Jerusalem, and my wisdom never failed me. ¹⁰ Anything I wanted, I got. I did not deny myself any pleasure. I was proud of everything I had worked for, and all this was my reward. ¹¹ Then I thought about all that I had done and how hard I had worked doing it, and I realized that it didn't mean a thing. It was like chasing the wind—of no use at all. ¹² After all, a king can only do what previous kings have done.

So I started thinking about what it meant to be wise or reckless or foolish. ¹³ Oh, I know, “Wisdom is better than foolishness, just as light is better than darkness. ¹⁴ The wise can see where they are going, and fools cannot.” But I also know that the same fate is waiting for us all. ¹⁵ I thought to myself, “What happens to fools is going to happen to me, too. So what have I gained from being so wise?” “Nothing,” I answered, “not a thing.” ¹⁶ No one remembers the wise, and no one remembers fools. In days to come, we will all be forgotten. We must all die—wise and foolish alike. ¹⁷ So life came to mean nothing to me, because everything in it had brought me nothing but trouble. It had all been useless; I had been chasing the wind.

¹⁸ Nothing that I had worked for and earned meant a thing to me, because I knew that I would have to leave it to my successor, ¹⁹ and he might be wise, or he might be foolish—who knows? Yet he will own everything I have worked for, everything my wisdom has earned for me in this world. It is all useless. ²⁰ So I came to regret that I had worked so hard. ²¹ You work for something with all your wisdom, knowledge, and skill, and then you have to leave it all to someone who hasn't had to work for it. It is useless, and it isn't right! ²² You work and worry your way through life, and what do you have to show for it? ^23 (E)As long as you live, everything you do brings nothing but worry and heartache. Even at night your mind can't rest. It is all useless.

^24 (F)The best thing we can do is eat and drink and enjoy what we have earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. ²⁵ How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all? ^26 (G)God gives wisdom, knowledge, and happiness to those who please him, but he makes sinners work, earning and saving, so that what they get can be given to those who please him. It is all useless. It is like chasing the wind.

False Teachers

4 The Spirit says clearly that some people will abandon the faith in later times; they will obey lying spirits and follow the teachings of demons. ² Such teachings are spread by deceitful liars, whose consciences are dead, as if burnt with a hot iron. ³ Such people teach that it is wrong to marry and to eat certain foods. But God created those foods to be eaten, after a prayer of thanks, by those who are believers and have come to know the truth. ⁴ Everything that God has created is good; nothing is to be rejected, but everything is to be received with a prayer of thanks, ⁵ because the word of God and the prayer make it acceptable to God.

A Good Servant of Christ Jesus

⁶ If you give these instructions to the believers, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, as you feed yourself spiritually on the words of faith and of the true teaching which you have followed. ⁷ But keep away from those godless legends, which are not worth telling. Keep yourself in training for a godly life. ⁸ Physical exercise has some value, but spiritual exercise is valuable in every way, because it promises life both for the present and for the future. ⁹ This is a true saying, to be completely accepted and believed. ¹⁰ We struggle^[a] and work hard, because we have placed our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all and especially of those who believe.

¹¹ Give them these instructions and these teachings. ¹² Do not let anyone look down on you because you are young, but be an example for the believers in your speech, your conduct, your love, faith, and purity. ¹³ Until I come, give your time and effort to the public reading of the Scriptures and to preaching and teaching. ¹⁴ Do not neglect the spiritual gift that is in you, which was given to you when the prophets spoke and the elders laid their hands on you. ¹⁵ Practice these things and devote yourself to them, in order that your progress may be seen by all. ¹⁶ Watch yourself and watch your teaching. Keep on doing these things, because if you do, you will save both yourself and those who hear you.