M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

The Holiness of the Priests

21 The Lord commanded Moses to tell the Aaronite priests, “No priest is to make himself ritually unclean by taking part in the funeral ceremonies when a relative dies, ² unless it is his mother, father, son, daughter, brother, ³ or unmarried sister living in his house. ⁴ He shall not make himself unclean at the death of those related to him by marriage.^[a]

^5 (A)“No priest shall shave any part of his head or trim his beard or cut gashes on his body to show that he is in mourning. ⁶ He must be holy and must not disgrace my name. He offers food offerings to me, and he must be holy. ⁷ A priest shall not marry a woman who has been a prostitute or a woman who is not a virgin or who is divorced; he is holy. ⁸ The people must consider the priest holy, because he presents the food offerings to me. I am the Lord; I am holy and I make my people holy. ⁹ If a priest's daughter becomes a prostitute, she disgraces her father; she shall be burned to death.

¹⁰ “The High Priest has had the anointing oil poured on his head and has been consecrated to wear the priestly garments, so he must not leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothes to show that he is in mourning. ^11-12 He has been dedicated to me and is not to make himself ritually unclean nor is he to defile my sacred Tent by leaving it and entering a house where there is a dead person, even if it is his own father or mother. ¹³ He shall marry a virgin, ¹⁴ not a widow or a divorced woman or a woman who has been a prostitute. He shall marry only a virgin from his own clan. ¹⁵ Otherwise, his children, who ought to be holy, will be ritually unclean. I am the Lord and I have set him apart as the High Priest.”

¹⁶ The Lord commanded Moses ¹⁷ to tell Aaron, “None of your descendants who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. This applies for all time to come. ¹⁸ No man with any physical defects may make the offering: no one who is blind, lame, disfigured, or deformed; ¹⁹ no one with a crippled hand or foot; ²⁰ no one who is a hunchback or a dwarf; no one with any eye or skin disease; and no eunuch. ²¹ No descendant of Aaron the priest who has any physical defects may present the food offering to me. ²² Such a man may eat the food offered to me, both the holy food offering and the very holy food offering, ²³ but because he has a physical defect, he shall not come near the sacred curtain or approach the altar. He must not profane these holy things, because I am the Lord and I make them holy.”

²⁴ This, then, is what Moses said to Aaron, the sons of Aaron, and to all the people of Israel.

The Prayer of a Good Person^[a]

A Prayer of Praise^[c]

4 Then I looked again at all the injustice that goes on in this world. The oppressed were crying, and no one would help them. No one would help them, because their oppressors had power on their side. ² I envy those who are dead and gone; they are better off than those who are still alive. ³ But better off than either are those who have never been born, who have never seen the injustice that goes on in this world.

⁴ I have also learned why people work so hard to succeed: it is because they envy the things their neighbors have. But it is useless. It is like chasing the wind. ⁵ They say that we would be fools to fold our hands and let ourselves starve to death. ⁶ Maybe so, but it is better to have only a little, with peace of mind, than be busy all the time with both hands, trying to catch the wind.

⁷ I have noticed something else in life that is useless. ⁸ Here is someone who lives alone. He has no son, no brother, yet he is always working, never satisfied with the wealth he has. For whom is he working so hard and denying himself any pleasure? This is useless, too—and a miserable way to live.

⁹ Two are better off than one, because together they can work more effectively. ¹⁰ If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him. ¹¹ If it is cold, two can sleep together and stay warm, but how can you keep warm by yourself ¹² Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person alone. A rope made of three cords is hard to break.

^13-14 Someone may rise from poverty to become king of his country, or go from prison to the throne, but if in his old age he is too foolish to take advice, he is not as well off as a young man who is poor but intelligent. ¹⁵ I thought about all the people who live in this world, and I realized that somewhere among them there is a young man who will take the king's place. ¹⁶ There may be no limit to the number of people a king rules; when he is gone, no one will be grateful for what he has done. It is useless. It is like chasing the wind.

6 Those who are slaves must consider their masters worthy of all respect, so that no one will speak evil of the name of God and of our teaching. ² Slaves belonging to Christian masters must not despise them, for they are believers too. Instead, they are to serve them even better, because those who benefit from their work are believers whom they love.

False Teaching and True Riches

You must teach and preach these things. ³ Whoever teaches a different doctrine and does not agree with the true words of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the teaching of our religion ⁴ is swollen with pride and knows nothing. He has an unhealthy desire to argue and quarrel about words, and this brings on jealousy, disputes, insults, evil suspicions, ⁵ and constant arguments from people whose minds do not function and who no longer have the truth. They think that religion is a way to become rich.

⁶ Well, religion does make us very rich, if we are satisfied with what we have. ⁷ What did we bring into the world? Nothing! What can we take out of the world? Nothing! ⁸ So then, if we have food and clothes, that should be enough for us. ⁹ But those who want to get rich fall into temptation and are caught in the trap of many foolish and harmful desires, which pull them down to ruin and destruction. ¹⁰ For the love of money is a source of all kinds of evil. Some have been so eager to have it that they have wandered away from the faith and have broken their hearts with many sorrows.

Personal Instructions

¹¹ But you, man of God, avoid all these things. Strive for righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. ¹² Run your best in the race of faith, and win eternal life for yourself; for it was to this life that God called you when you firmly professed your faith before many witnesses. ^13 (A)Before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who firmly professed his faith before Pontius Pilate, I command you ¹⁴ to obey your orders and keep them faithfully until the Day when our Lord Jesus Christ will appear. ¹⁵ His appearing will be brought about at the right time by God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. ¹⁶ He alone is immortal; he lives in the light that no one can approach. No one has ever seen him; no one can ever see him. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in the things of this life not to be proud, but to place their hope, not in such an uncertain thing as riches, but in God, who generously gives us everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share with others. ¹⁹ In this way they will store up for themselves a treasure which will be a solid foundation for the future. And then they will be able to win the life which is true life.

²⁰ Timothy, keep safe what has been entrusted to your care. Avoid the profane talk and foolish arguments of what some people wrongly call “Knowledge.” ²¹ For some have claimed to possess it, and as a result they have lost the way of faith.

God's grace be with you all.