M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Rebellion of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 (A)1-2 Korah son of Izhar, from the Levite clan of Kohath, rebelled against the leadership of Moses. He was joined by three members of the tribe of Reuben—Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth—and by 250 other Israelites, well-known leaders chosen by the community. 3 They assembled before Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! All the members of the community belong to the Lord, and the Lord is with all of us. Why, then, Moses, do you set yourself above the Lord's community?”
4 When Moses heard this, he threw himself on the ground and prayed. 5 Then he said to Korah and his followers, “Tomorrow morning the Lord will show us who belongs to him; he will let the one who belongs to him, that is, the one he has chosen, approach him at the altar. 6-7 Tomorrow morning you and your followers take fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and take them to the altar. Then we will see which of us the Lord has chosen. You Levites are the ones who have gone too far!”
8 Moses continued to speak to Korah. “Listen, you Levites! 9 Do you consider it a small matter that the God of Israel has set you apart from the rest of the community, so that you can approach him, perform your service in the Lord's Tent, and minister to the community and serve them? 10 He has let you and all the other Levites have this honor—and now you are trying to get the priesthood too! 11 When you complain against Aaron, it is really against the Lord that you and your followers are rebelling.”
12 Then Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Isn't it enough that you have brought us out of the fertile land of Egypt to kill us here in the wilderness? Do you also have to lord it over us? 14 You certainly have not brought us into a fertile land or given us fields and vineyards as our possession, and now you are trying to deceive us. We will not come!”
15 Moses became angry and said to the Lord, “Do not accept any offerings these men bring. I have not wronged any of them; I have not even taken one of their donkeys.”
16 Moses said to Korah, “Tomorrow you and your 250 followers must come to the Tent of the Lord's presence; Aaron will also be there. 17 Each of you will take his fire pan, put incense on it, and then present it at the altar.” 18 So they each took their fire pans, put live coals and incense on them, and stood at the entrance of the Tent with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah gathered the whole community, and they stood facing Moses and Aaron at the entrance of the Tent. Suddenly the dazzling light of the Lord's presence appeared to the whole community, 20 and the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, 21 “Move back from these people, and I will destroy them immediately.”
22 But Moses and Aaron bowed down with their faces to the ground and said, “O God, you are the source of all life. When one of us sins, do you become angry with the whole community?”
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Tell the people to move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”
25 Then Moses, accompanied by the leaders of Israel, went to Dathan and Abiram. 26 He said to the people, “Get away from the tents of these wicked men and don't touch anything that belongs to them. Otherwise, you will be wiped out with them for all their sins.” 27 So they moved away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.
Dathan and Abiram had come out and were standing at the entrance of their tents, with their wives and children. 28 Moses said to the people, “This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it is not by my own choice that I have done them. 29 If these men die a natural death without some punishment from God, then the Lord did not send me. 30 But if the Lord does something unheard of, and the earth opens up and swallows them with all they own, so that they go down alive to the world of the dead, you will know that these men have rejected the Lord.”
31 As soon as he had finished speaking, the ground under Dathan and Abiram split open 32 and swallowed them and their families, together with all of Korah's followers and their possessions. 33 So they went down alive to the world of the dead, with their possessions. The earth closed over them, and they vanished. 34 All the people of Israel who were there fled when they heard their cry. They shouted, “Run! The earth might swallow us too!”
35 Then the Lord sent a fire that blazed out and burned up the 250 men who had presented the incense.
The Fire Pans
36 Then the Lord said to Moses, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to remove the bronze fire pans from the remains of those who have been burned, and scatter the coals from the fire pans somewhere else, because the fire pans are holy. 38 They became holy when they were presented at the Lord's altar. So take the fire pans of these who were put to death for their sin, beat them into thin plates, and make a covering for the altar. It will be a warning to the people of Israel.” 39 So Eleazar the priest took the fire pans and had them beaten into thin plates to make a covering for the altar. 40 This was a warning to the Israelites that no one who was not a descendant of Aaron should come to the altar to burn incense for the Lord. Otherwise he would be destroyed like Korah and his men. All this was done as the Lord had commanded Eleazar through Moses.
Aaron Saves the People
41 The next day the whole community complained against Moses and Aaron and said, “You have killed some of the Lord's people.” 42 After they had all gathered to protest to Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the Tent and saw that the cloud was covering it and that the dazzling light of the Lord's presence had appeared. 43 Moses and Aaron went and stood in front of the Tent, 44 (B)and the Lord said to Moses, 45 “Move back from these people, and I will destroy them on the spot!”
The two of them bowed down with their faces to the ground, 46 and Moses said to Aaron, “Take your fire pan, put live coals from the altar in it, and put some incense on the coals. Then hurry with it to the people and perform the ritual of purification for them. Hurry! The Lord's anger has already broken out and an epidemic has already begun.” 47 Aaron obeyed, took his fire pan and ran into the middle of the assembled people. When he saw that the plague had already begun, he put the incense on the coals and performed the ritual of purification for the people. 48 This stopped the plague, and he was left standing between the living and the dead. 49 The number of people who died was 14,700, not counting those who died in Korah's rebellion. 50 When the plague had stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the Tent.
(A)God's Judgment and Grace[a]
52 Why do you boast, great one, of your evil?
God's faithfulness is eternal.
2 You make plans to ruin others;
your tongue is like a sharp razor.
You are always inventing lies.
3 You love evil more than good
and falsehood more than truth.
4 You love to hurt people with your words, you liar!
5 So God will ruin you forever;
he will take hold of you and snatch you from your home;
he will remove you from the world of the living.
6 Righteous people will see this and be afraid;
then they will laugh at you and say,
7 “Look, here is someone who did not depend on God for safety,
but trusted instead in great wealth
and looked for security in being wicked.”
8 But I am like an olive tree growing in the house of God;
I trust in his constant love forever and ever.
9 I will always thank you, God, for what you have done;
in the presence of your people
I will proclaim that you are good.
Human Wickedness[b](B)
53 (C)Fools say to themselves,
“There is no God.”
They are all corrupt,
and they have done terrible things;
there is no one who does what is right.
2 God looks down from heaven at people
to see if there are any who are wise,
any who worship him.
3 But they have all turned away;
they are all equally bad.
Not one of them does what is right,
not a single one.
4 “Don't they know?” God asks.
“Are these evildoers ignorant?
They live by robbing my people,
and they never pray to me.”
5 But then they will become terrified,
as they have never been before,
for God will scatter the bones of the enemies of his people.
God has rejected them,
and so Israel will totally defeat them.
6 How I pray that victory
will come to Israel from Zion.
How happy the people of Israel will be
when God makes them prosperous again!
(D)A Prayer for Protection from Enemies[c]
54 Save me by your power, O God;
set me free by your might!
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to my words!
3 Proud people are coming to attack me;
cruel people are trying to kill me—
those who do not care about God.
4 But God is my helper.
The Lord is my defender.
5 May God use their own evil to punish my enemies.
He will destroy them because he is faithful.
6 I will gladly offer you a sacrifice, O Lord;
I will give you thanks
because you are good.
7 You have rescued me from all my troubles,
and I have seen my enemies defeated.
God Calls Isaiah to Be a Prophet
6 (A)In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord. He was sitting on his throne, high and exalted, and his robe filled the whole Temple. 2 Around him flaming creatures were standing, each of which had six wings. Each creature covered its face with two wings, and its body with two, and used the other two for flying. 3 (B)They were calling out to each other:
“Holy, holy, holy!
The Lord Almighty is holy!
His glory fills the world.”
4 (C)The sound of their voices made the foundation of the Temple shake, and the Temple itself became filled with smoke.
5 I said, “There is no hope for me! I am doomed because every word that passes my lips is sinful, and I live among a people whose every word is sinful. And yet, with my own eyes I have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.”
6 Then one of the creatures flew down to me, carrying a burning coal that he had taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 He touched my lips with the burning coal and said, “This has touched your lips, and now your guilt is gone, and your sins are forgiven.”
8 Then I heard the Lord say, “Whom shall I send? Who will be our messenger?”
I answered, “I will go! Send me!”
9 (D)So he told me to go and give the people this message: “No matter how much you listen, you will not understand. No matter how much you look, you will not know what is happening.” 10 Then he said to me, “Make the minds of these people dull, their ears deaf, and their eyes blind, so that they cannot see or hear or understand. If they did, they might turn to me and be healed.”
11 I asked, “How long will it be like this, Lord?”
He answered, “Until the cities are ruined and empty—until the houses are uninhabited—until the land itself is a desolate wasteland. 12 I will send the people far away and make the whole land desolate. 13 Even if one person out of ten remains in the land, he too will be destroyed; he will be like the stump of an oak tree that has been cut down.”
(The stump represents a new beginning for God's people.)
How to Please God
13 Keep on loving one another as Christians. 2 (A)Remember to welcome strangers in your homes. There were some who did that and welcomed angels without knowing it. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them. Remember those who are suffering, as though you were suffering as they are.
4 (B)Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other. God will judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
5 (C)Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never leave you; I will never abandon you.” 6 (D)Let us be bold, then, and say,
“The Lord is my helper,
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
7 Remember your former leaders, who spoke God's message to you. Think back on how they lived and died, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not let all kinds of strange teachings lead you from the right way. It is good to receive inner strength from God's grace, and not by obeying rules about foods; those who obey these rules have not been helped by them.
10 The priests who serve in the Jewish place of worship have no right to eat any of the sacrifice on our altar. 11 (E)The Jewish high priest brings the blood of the animals into the Most Holy Place to offer it as a sacrifice for sins; but the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp. 12 For this reason Jesus also died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp and share his shame. 14 For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come. 15 Let us, then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord. 16 Do not forget to do good and to help one another, because these are the sacrifices that please God.
17 Obey your leaders and follow their orders. They watch over your souls without resting, since they must give to God an account of their service. If you obey them, they will do their work gladly; if not, they will do it with sadness, and that would be of no help to you.
18 Keep on praying for us. We are sure we have a clear conscience, because we want to do the right thing at all times. 19 And I beg you even more earnestly to pray that God will send me back to you soon.
Closing Prayer
20-21 God has raised from death our Lord Jesus, who is the Great Shepherd of the sheep as the result of his blood,[a] by which the eternal covenant is sealed. May the God of peace provide you with every good thing you need in order to do his will, and may he, through Jesus Christ, do in us what pleases him. And to Christ be the glory forever and ever! Amen.
Final Words
22 I beg you, my friends, to listen patiently to this message of encouragement; for this letter I have written you is not very long. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been let out of prison. If he comes soon enough, I will have him with me when I see you.
24 Give our greetings to all your leaders and to all God's people. The believers from Italy send you their greetings.
25 May God's grace be with you all.
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.