M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Laws concerning Gifts to the Lord
27 The Lord gave Moses 2 the following regulations for the people of Israel. When any of you have been given to the Lord in fulfillment of a special vow, you may be set free by the payment of the following sums of money, 3-7 according to the official standard:
–adult male, twenty to sixty years old: 50 pieces of silver
–adult female: 30 pieces of silver
–young male, five to twenty years old: 20 pieces of silver
–young female: 10 pieces of silver
–infant male under five: 5 pieces of silver
–infant female: 3 pieces of silver
–male above sixty years of age: 15 pieces of silver
–female above sixty: 10 pieces of silver
8 If any of you make a vow and are too poor to pay the standard price, you shall bring the person to the priest, and the priest will set a lower price, according to your ability to pay.
9 If your vow concerns an animal that is acceptable as an offering to the Lord, then every gift made to the Lord is sacred, 10 and you may not substitute another animal for it. If you do, both animals belong to the Lord. 11 But if your vow concerns a ritually unclean animal, which is not acceptable as an offering to the Lord, you shall take the animal to the priest. 12 The priest shall set a price for it, according to its good or bad qualities, and the price will be final. 13 If you wish to buy it back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.
14 When any of you dedicate your house to the Lord, the priest shall set the price according to its good or bad points, and the price will be final. 15 If you wish to buy your house back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent.
16 If any of you dedicate part of your land to the Lord, the price shall be set according to the amount of seed it takes to sow it, at the rate of ten pieces of silver per bushel of barley. 17 If you dedicate the land immediately after a Year of Restoration, the full price applies. 18 If you dedicate it any time later, the priest shall estimate the cash value according to the number of years left until the next Year of Restoration, and set a reduced price. 19 If you wish to buy your field back, you must pay the price plus an additional 20 percent. 20 If you sell the field to someone else without first buying it back from the Lord, you lose the right to buy it back. 21 At the next Year of Restoration the field will become the Lord's permanent property; it shall belong to the priests.
22 If you dedicate to the Lord a field that you have bought, 23 the priest shall estimate its value according to the number of years until the next Year of Restoration, and you must pay the price that very day; the money belongs to the Lord. 24 At the Year of Restoration the field shall be returned to the original owner or to the descendants.
25 All prices shall be set according to the official standard.
26 The first-born of an animal already belongs to the Lord, so no one may dedicate it to him as a freewill offering. A calf, a lamb, or a kid belongs to the Lord, 27 but the first-born of an unclean animal may be bought back at the standard price plus an additional 20 percent. If it is not bought back, it may be sold to someone else at the standard price.
28 (A)None of you may sell or buy back what you have unconditionally dedicated[a] to the Lord, whether it is a human being, an animal, or land. It belongs permanently to the Lord. 29 Not even human beings who have been unconditionally dedicated may be bought back; they must be put to death.
30 (B)One tenth of all the produce of the land, whether grain or fruit, belongs to the Lord. 31 If you wish to buy any of it back, you must pay the standard price plus an additional 20 percent. 32 One of every ten domestic animals belongs to the Lord. When the animals are counted, every tenth one belongs to the Lord. 33 You may not arrange the animals so that the poor animals are chosen, and you may not make any substitutions. If you do substitute one animal for another, then both animals will belong to the Lord and may not be bought back.
34 These are the commands that the Lord gave Moses on Mount Sinai for the people of Israel.
(A)In Praise of God's Goodness[a]
34 I will always thank the Lord;
I will never stop praising him.
2 I will praise him for what he has done;
may all who are oppressed listen and be glad!
3 Proclaim with me the Lord's greatness;
let us praise his name together!
4 I prayed to the Lord, and he answered me;
he freed me from all my fears.
5 The oppressed look to him and are glad;
they will never be disappointed.
6 The helpless call to him, and he answers;
he saves them from all their troubles.
7 His angel guards those who honor the Lord
and rescues them from danger.
8 (B)Find out for yourself how good the Lord is.
Happy are those who find safety with him.
9 Honor the Lord, all his people;
those who obey him have all they need.
10 Even lions go hungry for lack of food,
but those who obey the Lord lack nothing good.
11 Come, my young friends, and listen to me,
and I will teach you to honor the Lord.
12 (C)Would you like to enjoy life?
Do you want long life and happiness?
13 Then keep from speaking evil
and from telling lies.
14 Turn away from evil and do good;
strive for peace with all your heart.
15 The Lord watches over the righteous
and listens to their cries;
16 but he opposes those who do evil,
so that when they die, they are soon forgotten.
17 The righteous call to the Lord, and he listens;
he rescues them from all their troubles.
18 The Lord is near to those who are discouraged;
he saves those who have lost all hope.
19 Good people suffer many troubles,
but the Lord saves them from them all;
20 (D)the Lord preserves them completely;
not one of their bones is broken.
21 Evil will kill the wicked;
those who hate the righteous will be punished.
22 The Lord will save his people;
those who go to him for protection will be spared.
10 Dead flies can make a whole bottle of perfume stink, and a little stupidity can cancel out the greatest wisdom.
2 It is natural for the wise to do the right thing and for fools to do the wrong thing. 3 Their stupidity will be evident even to strangers they meet along the way; they let everyone know that they are fools.
4 If your ruler becomes angry with you, do not hand in your resignation; serious wrongs may be pardoned if you keep calm.[a]
5 Here is an injustice I have seen in the world—an injustice caused by rulers. 6 Stupid people are given positions of authority while the rich are ignored. 7 I have seen slaves on horseback while noblemen go on foot like slaves.
8 (A)If you dig a pit, you fall in it; if you break through a wall, a snake bites you. 9 If you work in a stone quarry, you get hurt by stones. If you split wood, you get hurt doing it. 10 If your ax is dull and you don't sharpen it, you have to work harder to use it. It is smarter to plan ahead. 11 Knowing how to charm a snake is of no use if you let the snake bite first. 12 What the wise say brings them honor, but fools are destroyed by their own words. 13 They start out with silly talk and end up with pure madness. 14 A fool talks on and on.
No one knows what is going to happen next, and no one can tell us what will happen after we die.
15 Only someone too stupid to find his way home would wear himself out with work.
16 A country is in trouble when its king is a youth and its leaders feast all night long. 17 But a country is fortunate to have a king who makes his own decisions and leaders who eat at the proper time, who control themselves and don't get drunk.
18 When you are too lazy to repair your roof, it will leak, and the house will fall in.
19 Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up, but you can't have either without money.
20 Don't criticize the king, even silently, and don't criticize the rich, even in the privacy of your bedroom. A bird might carry the message and tell them what you said.
Sound Doctrine
2 But you must teach what agrees with sound doctrine. 2 Instruct the older men to be sober, sensible, and self-controlled; to be sound in their faith, love, and endurance. 3 In the same way instruct the older women to behave as women should who live a holy life. They must not be slanderers or slaves to wine. They must teach what is good, 4 in order to train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, and to be good housewives who submit themselves to their husbands, so that no one will speak evil of the message that comes from God.
6 In the same way urge the young men to be self-controlled. 7 In all things you yourself must be an example of good behavior. Be sincere and serious in your teaching. 8 Use sound words that cannot be criticized, so that your enemies may be put to shame by not having anything bad to say about us.
9 Slaves are to submit themselves to their masters and please them in all things. They must not talk back to them 10 or steal from them. Instead, they must show that they are always good and faithful, so as to bring credit to the teaching about God our Savior in all they do.
11 For God has revealed his grace for the salvation of all people. 12 That grace instructs us to give up ungodly living and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this world, 13 as we wait for the blessed Day we hope for, when the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ[a] will appear. 14 (A)He gave himself for us, to rescue us from all wickedness and to make us a pure people who belong to him alone and are eager to do good.
15 Teach these things and use your full authority as you encourage and rebuke your hearers. Let none of them look down on you.
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.