M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

24 To Moshe [Adonai] said, “Come up to Adonai — you, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu, and seventy of the leaders of Isra’el. Prostrate yourselves at a distance, ² while Moshe alone approaches Adonai — the others are not to approach, and the people are not to go up with him.” ³ Moshe came and told the people everything Adonai had said, including all the rulings. The people answered with one voice: “We will obey every word Adonai has spoken.”

⁴ Moshe wrote down all the words of Adonai. He rose early in the morning, built an altar at the base of the mountain and set upright twelve large stones to represent the twelve tribes of Isra’el. ⁵ He sent the young men of the people of Isra’el to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice peace offerings of oxen to Adonai. ⁶ Moshe took half of the blood and put it in basins; the other half of the blood he splashed against the altar. ⁷ Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud, so that the people could hear; and they responded, “Everything that Adonai has spoken, we will do and obey.” ⁸ Moshe took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant which Adonai has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Moshe, Aharon, Nadav, Avihu and seventy of the leaders went up; ¹⁰ and they saw the God of Isra’el. Under his feet was something like a sapphire stone pavement as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ He did not reach out his hand against these notables of Isra’el; on the contrary, they saw God, even as they were eating and drinking.

¹² Adonai said to Moshe, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the Torah and the mitzvot I have written on them, so that you can teach them.” ¹³ Moshe got up, also Y’hoshua his assistant; and Moshe went up onto the mountain of God. ¹⁴ To the leaders he said, “Stay here for us, until we come back to you. See, Aharon and Hur are with you; whoever has a problem should turn to them.” (S: Maftir) ¹⁵ Moshe went up onto the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. (A: Maftir) ¹⁶ The glory of Adonai stayed on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day he called to Moshe out of the cloud. ¹⁷ To the people of Isra’el the glory of Adonai looked like a raging fire on the top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Moshe entered the cloud and went up on the mountain; he was on the mountain forty days and nights.

Haftarah Mishpatim: Yirmeyahu (Jeremiah) 34:8–22; 33:25–26

B’rit Hadashah suggested readings for Parashah Mishpatim: Mattityahu (Matthew) 5:38–42; 15:1–20; Mark 7:1–23; Acts 23:1–11; Messianic Jews (Hebrews) 9:15–22; 10:28–39

3 There was a man among the P’rushim, named Nakdimon, who was a ruler of the Judeans. ² This man came to Yeshua by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know it is from God that you have come as a teacher; for no one can do these miracles you perform unless God is with him.” ³ “Yes, indeed,” Yeshua answered him, “I tell you that unless a person is born again from above, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

⁴ Nakdimon said to him, “How can a grown man be ‘born’? Can he go back into his mother’s womb and be born a second time?” ⁵ Yeshua answered, “Yes, indeed, I tell you that unless a person is born from water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God. ⁶ What is born from the flesh is flesh, and what is born from the Spirit is spirit. ⁷ Stop being amazed at my telling you that you must be born again from above! ⁸ The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but you don’t know where it comes from or where it’s going. That’s how it is with everyone who has been born from the Spirit.”

⁹ Nakdimon replied, “How can this happen?” ¹⁰ Yeshua answered him, “You hold the office of teacher in Isra’el, and you don’t know this? ¹¹ Yes, indeed! I tell you that what we speak about, we know; and what we give evidence of, we have seen; but you people don’t accept our evidence! ¹² If you people don’t believe me when I tell you about the things of the world, how will you believe me when I tell you about the things of heaven? ¹³ No one has gone up into heaven; there is only the one who has come down from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴ Just as Moshe lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up; ¹⁵ so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world that he gave his only and unique Son, so that everyone who trusts in him may have eternal life, instead of being utterly destroyed. ¹⁷ For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but rather so that through him, the world might be saved. ¹⁸ Those who trust in him are not judged; those who do not trust have been judged already, in that they have not trusted in the one who is God’s only and unique Son.

¹⁹ “Now this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, but people loved the darkness rather than the light. Why? Because their actions were wicked. ²⁰ For everyone who does evil things hates the light and avoids it, so that his actions won’t be exposed. ²¹ But everyone who does what is true comes to the light, so that all may see that his actions are accomplished through God.”

²² After this, Yeshua and his talmidim went out into the countryside of Y’hudah, where he stayed awhile with them and immersed people. ²³ Yochanan too was immersing at Einayim, near Shalem, because there was plenty of water there; and people kept coming to be immersed. ²⁴ (This was before Yochanan’s imprisonment.)

²⁵ A discussion arose between some of Yochanan’s talmidim and a Judean about ceremonial washing; ²⁶ and they came to Yochanan and said to him, “Rabbi, you know the man who was with you on the other side of the Yarden, the one you spoke about? Well, here he is, immersing; and everyone is going to him!” ²⁷ Yochanan answered, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from Heaven. ²⁸ You yourselves can confirm that I did not say I was the Messiah, but that I have been sent ahead of him. ²⁹ The bridegroom is the one who has the bride; but the bridegroom’s friend, who stands and listens to him, is overjoyed at the sound of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine is now complete. ³⁰ He must become more important, while I become less important.

³¹ “He who comes from above is above all. He who is from the earth is from the earth and talks from an earthly point of view; he who comes from heaven is above all. ³² He testifies about what he has actually seen and heard, yet no one accepts what he says! ³³ Whoever does accept what he says puts his seal on the fact that God is true, ³⁴ because the one whom God sent speaks God’s words. For God does not give him the Spirit in limited degree — ³⁵ the Father loves the Son and has put everything in his hands. ³⁶ Whoever trusts in the Son has eternal life. But whoever disobeys the Son will not see that life but remains subject to God’s wrath.”

⁷ After Adonai had spoken these words to Iyov, Adonai said to Elifaz the Teimani, “My anger is blazing against you and your two friends, because, unlike my servant Iyov, you have not spoken rightly about me. ⁸ So now, get yourselves seven young bulls and seven rams, go to my servant Iyov, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering. My servant Iyov will pray for you — because him I will accept — so that I won’t punish you as your boorishness deserves; because you have not spoken rightly about me, as my servant Iyov has.” ⁹ So Elifaz the Teimani, Bildad the Shuchi and Tzofar the Na‘amati went and did what Adonai had ordered them to do, and Adonai accepted Iyov[’s prayer].

¹⁰ When Iyov prayed for his friends, Adonai restored his fortunes; Adonai gave Iyov twice as much as he had had before. ¹¹ Then all his brothers and sisters came to him, also all who had known him before, and they ate a meal with him in his house. They consoled and comforted him for all the evils Adonai had inflicted on him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and a gold ring. ¹² Adonai blessed Iyov’s later situation even more than his earlier one — he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 pairs of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys.

¹³ He also had seven sons and three daughters. ¹⁴ The first he named Y’mimah; the second, K’tzi‘ah; and the third, Keren-Hapukh. ¹⁵ Nowhere in the land could women be found as beautiful as Iyov’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritances along with their brothers.

¹⁶ After this, Iyov lived 140 years, long enough to see his sons and grandsons, four generations. ¹⁷ Then, old and full of days, Iyov died.

12 I have to boast. There is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord. ² I know a man in union with the Messiah who fourteen years ago was snatched up to the third heaven; whether he was in the body or outside the body I don’t know, God knows. ³ And I know that such a man — whether in the body or apart from the body I don’t know, God knows — ⁴ was snatched into Gan-‘Eden and heard things that cannot be put into words, things unlawful for a human being to utter. ⁵ About such a man I will boast; but about myself I will not boast, except in regard to my weaknesses. ⁶ If I did want to boast, I would not be foolish; because I would be speaking the truth. But, because of the extraordinary greatness of the revelations, I refrain, so that no one will think more of me than what my words or deeds may warrant. ⁷ Therefore, to keep me from becoming overly proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from the Adversary to pound away at me, so that I wouldn’t grow conceited. ⁸ Three times I begged the Lord to take this thing away from me; ⁹ but he told me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is brought to perfection in weakness.” Therefore, I am very happy to boast about my weaknesses, in order that the Messiah’s power will rest upon me. ¹⁰ Yes, I am well pleased with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and difficulties endured on behalf of the Messiah; for it is when I am weak that I am strong.

¹¹ I have behaved like a fool, but you forced me to do it — you who should have been commending me. For I am in no way inferior to the “super-emissaries,” even if I am nothing. ¹² The things that prove I am an emissary — signs, wonders and miracles — were done in your presence, despite what I had to endure. ¹³ Is there any way in which you have been behind any of the other congregations, other than in my not having been a burden to you? For this unfairness, please forgive me!

¹⁴ Look, I am ready this third time to come and visit you; and I will not be a burden to you; for it is not what you own that I want, but you! Children are not supposed to save up for their parents, but parents for their children. ¹⁵ And as for me, I will most gladly spend everything I have and be spent myself too for your sakes. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?

¹⁶ Let it be granted, then, that I was not a burden to you; but, crafty fellow that I am, I took you with trickery! ¹⁷ Was it perhaps through someone I sent you ¹⁸ that I took advantage of you? I urged Titus to go and sent the brother with him; Titus didn’t take advantage of you, did he? Didn’t we live by the same Spirit and show you the same path?

¹⁹ Perhaps you think that all this time we have been defending ourselves before you. No, we have been speaking in the sight of God, as those united with the Messiah should; and, my dear friends, it is all for your upbuilding. ²⁰ For I am afraid of coming and finding you not the way I want you to be, and also of not being found the way you want me to be. I am afraid of finding quarreling and jealousy, anger and rivalry, slander and gossip, arrogance and disorder. ²¹ I am afraid that when I come again, my God may humiliate me in your presence, and that I will be grieved over many of those who sinned in the past and have not repented of the impurity, fornication and debauchery that they have engaged in.