M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Instructions for the priests’ ordination
29 Now this is what you should do to make them holy in order to serve me as priests. Take a young bull and two flawless rams. 2 Take unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread made with oil, and unleavened wafers spread with oil. Make them out of high-quality wheat flour. 3 Put them all in one basket and present them in the basket along with the bull and the two rams. 4 Present Aaron and his sons at the entrance to the meeting tent and wash them with water. 5 Then take the priestly clothes and put them on Aaron: the tunic, the vest’s robe, the vest itself, and the chest pendant. Put the vest on him with the vest’s belt. 6 Set the turban on his head and place the holy crown on the turban. 7 Take the anointing oil and pour it on his head to anoint him. 8 Then present his sons and put the tunics on them. 9 Tighten the sashes on them, on both Aaron and his sons. Wrap the turbans on their heads. It will be a permanent regulation that the duties of priesthood belong to them. In this way, you will ordain Aaron and his sons.
10 Present the bull at the front of the meeting tent. Aaron and his sons will lay their hands on the bull’s head. 11 Then slaughter the bull in the Lord’s presence at the meeting tent’s entrance. 12 Take some of the bull’s blood and smear it on the altar’s horns with your finger. Pour out the rest of the blood at the altar’s base. 13 Then take all the fat that covers the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys along with the fat that is on them, and burn them up in smoke on the altar. 14 Burn the rest of the meat of the bull, its hide, and the intestines with their contents with a fire outside the camp. It is a purification offering.
15 Choose one of the rams, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. 16 Then slaughter the ram. Take its blood and throw it against all the altar’s sides. 17 Cut up the ram into parts. Wash its inner organs and legs, and put them together with its parts and its head. 18 Then turn the entire ram into smoke by burning it on the altar. It is an entirely burned offering for the Lord, a soothing smell, a food gift for the Lord.
19 Take the second ram, and have Aaron and his sons lay their hands on the ram’s head. 20 Slaughter the ram. Take some of its blood and smear it on the right earlobes of Aaron and his sons, on the thumbs of their right hands, and on the big toes of their right feet. Throw the rest of the blood against all the altar’s sides. 21 Then take some of the blood on the altar and some of the anointing oil and sprinkle them on Aaron and on his clothes and on his sons and on his sons’ clothes. In this way, Aaron, his sons, and all their priestly garments will be holy.
22 Take the fatty parts of the ram: the fat tail, the fat around the inner organs, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat around them, and the right thigh (because it is a ram for ordination). 23 Add one loaf of bread, one flatbread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that was presented to the Lord. 24 Place all of these in the hands of Aaron and his sons, and lift them as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. 25 Then take them from their hands and turn them into smoke by burning them on the altar with the entirely burned offering as a soothing smell in the Lord’s presence. It is a food gift for the Lord.
26 Take the breast of the ram for Aaron’s ordination and lift it as an uplifted offering in the Lord’s presence. It will be your portion. 27 Make holy the breast that was lifted for the uplifted offering and the thigh that was raised for the gift offering from the ram for the ordination. They belong to Aaron and his sons. 28 Those parts will be given to Aaron and his sons from the Israelites as a permanent provision, because they are a gift offering. They will be a gift offering from the Israelites, their gift offering to the Lord from their well-being sacrifices.
29 Aaron’s holy clothes should be passed on to his sons after him. His sons should be anointed in them and ordained in them. 30 The son who is priest in his place should wear them seven days when he comes into the meeting tent to minister in the sanctuary.
31 Take the ram for the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place. 32 Aaron and his sons will eat the ram’s meat and the bread that is in the basket at the meeting tent’s entrance. 33 They alone should eat the food that was used to purify them, to ordain them, and to make them holy. No one else should eat it because it is holy. 34 If any meat for the ordination or any of the bread is left over until morning, then you should burn the leftovers with fire. It shouldn’t be eaten because it’s holy.
35 Treat Aaron and his sons just as I have commanded you. Ordain them for seven days. 36 Every day you should offer a bull as a purification offering for reconciliation. You should remove the sin from the altar through a ritual of reconciliation, and you should anoint the altar to make it holy. 37 Seven days you should perform the ritual of reconciliation for the altar and make it holy. In this way, the altar will become most holy, and whatever touches the altar will also become holy.
Instructions for daily entirely burned offerings
38 Now this is what you should offer on the altar: two one-year-old lambs regularly every day. 39 Offer one lamb in the morning and offer the other lamb at twilight. 40 With the first lamb, add one-tenth of a measure of the high-quality flour mixed with a quarter of a hin[a] of oil from crushed olives and a quarter of a hin of wine for a drink offering. 41 With the second lamb offered at twilight, again include a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning as a soothing smell, a gift offering for the Lord. 42 This should be the regular entirely burned offering in every generation at the meeting tent’s entrance in the Lord’s presence. There I will meet with you, and there I will speak to you. 43 I will meet with the Israelites there, and it will be made holy by my glorious presence. 44 I will make the meeting tent and the altar holy. Likewise, I will make Aaron and his sons holy to serve me as priests. 45 I will be at home among the Israelites, and I will be their God. 46 They will know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could make a home among them. I am the Lord their God.
8 1 And Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he returned to the temple. All the people gathered around him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The legal experts and Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery. Placing her in the center of the group, 4 they said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of committing adultery. 5 In the Law, Moses commanded us to stone women like this. What do you say?” 6 They said this to test him, because they wanted a reason to bring an accusation against him. Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.
7 They continued to question him, so he stood up and replied, “Whoever hasn’t sinned should throw the first stone.” 8 Bending down again, he wrote on the ground. 9 Those who heard him went away, one by one, beginning with the elders. Finally, only Jesus and the woman were left in the middle of the crowd.
10 Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Is there no one to condemn you?”
11 She said, “No one, sir.”[a]
Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on, don’t sin anymore.”[b]
Jesus continues to teach in the temple
12 Jesus spoke to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me won’t walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”
13 Then the Pharisees said to him, “Because you are testifying about yourself, your testimony isn’t valid.”
14 Jesus replied, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, since I know where I came from and where I’m going. You don’t know where I come from or where I’m going. 15 You judge according to human standards, but I judge no one. 16 Even if I do judge, my judgment is truthful, because I’m not alone. My judgments come from me and from the Father who sent me. 17 In your Law it is written that the witness of two people is true. 18 I am one witness concerning myself, and the Father who sent me is the other.”
19 They asked him, “Where is your Father?”
Jesus answered, “You don’t know me and you don’t know my Father. If you knew me, you would also know my Father.” 20 He spoke these words while he was teaching in the temple area known as the treasury. No one arrested him, because his time hadn’t yet come.
21 Jesus continued, “I’m going away. You will look for me, and you will die in your sin. Where I’m going, you can’t come.”
22 The Jewish leaders said, “He isn’t going to kill himself, is he? Is that why he said, ‘Where I’m going, you can’t come’?”
23 He said to them, “You are from below; I’m from above. You are from this world; I’m not from this world. 24 This is why I told you that you would die in your sins. If you don’t believe that I Am, you will die in your sins.”
25 “Who are you?” they asked.
Jesus replied, “I’m exactly who I have claimed to be from the beginning. 26 I have many things to say in judgment concerning you. The one who sent me is true, and what I have heard from him I tell the world.” 27 They didn’t know he was speaking about his Father. 28 So Jesus said to them, “When the Human One[c] is lifted up,[d] then you will know that I Am.[e] Then you will know that I do nothing on my own, but I say just what the Father has taught me. 29 He who sent me is with me. He doesn’t leave me by myself, because I always do what makes him happy.” 30 While Jesus was saying these things, many people came to believe in him.
Children of Abraham
31 Jesus said to the Jews who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teaching. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
33 They responded, “We are Abraham’s children; we’ve never been anyone’s slaves. How can you say that we will be set free?”
34 Jesus answered, “I assure you that everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 A slave isn’t a permanent member of the household, but a son is. 36 Therefore, if the Son makes you free, you really will be free. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s children, yet you want to kill me because you don’t welcome my teaching. 38 I’m telling you what I’ve seen when I am with the Father, but you are doing what you’ve heard from your father.”
39 They replied, “Our father is Abraham.”
Jesus responded, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would do Abraham’s works. 40 Instead, you want to kill me, though I am the one who has spoken the truth I heard from God. Abraham didn’t do this. 41 You are doing your father’s works.”
They said, “Our ancestry isn’t in question! The only Father we have is God!”
42 Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God. Here I am. I haven’t come on my own. God sent me. 43 Why don’t you understand what I’m saying? It’s because you can’t really hear my words. 44 Your father is the devil. You are his children, and you want to do what your father wants. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has never stood for the truth, because there’s no truth in him. Whenever that liar speaks, he speaks according to his own nature, because he’s a liar and the father of liars. 45 Because I speak the truth, you don’t believe me. 46 Who among you can show I’m guilty of sin? Since I speak the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 God’s children listen to God’s words. You don’t listen to me because you aren’t God’s children.”
48 The Jewish opposition answered, “We were right to say that you are a Samaritan and have a demon, weren’t we?”
49 “I don’t have a demon,” Jesus replied. “But I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I’m not trying to bring glory to myself. There’s one who is seeking to glorify me, and he’s the judge. 51 I assure you that whoever keeps my word will never die.”
Abraham and Jesus
52 The Jewish opposition said to Jesus, “Now we know that you have a demon. Abraham and the prophets died, yet you say, ‘Whoever keeps my word will never die.’ 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died and the prophets died, so who do you make yourself out to be?”
54 Jesus answered, “If I glorify myself, my glory is meaningless. My Father, who you say is your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 You don’t know him, but I do. If I said I didn’t know him, I would be like you, a liar. But I do know him, and I keep his word. 56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed that he would see my day. He saw it and was happy.”
57 “You aren’t even 50 years old!” the Jewish opposition replied. “How can you say that you have seen Abraham?”
58 “I assure you,” Jesus replied, “before Abraham was, I Am.” 59 So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and left the temple.
Avoid the mysterious woman
5 My son, pay attention to my wisdom.
Bend your ear to what I know,
2 so you might remain discreet,
and your lips might guard knowledge.
3 The lips of a mysterious woman drip honey,
and her tongue is smoother than oil,
4 but in the end she is bitter as gall,
sharp as a double-edged sword.
5 Her feet go down to death;
her steps lead to the grave.[a]
6 She doesn’t stay on the way of life.
Her paths wander, but she doesn’t know it.
7 Now sons, listen to me,
and don’t deviate from the words of my mouth.
8 Stay on a path that is far from her;
don’t approach the entrance to her house.
9 Otherwise, you will give your strength to others,
your years to a cruel person.
10 Otherwise, strangers will sap your strength,
and your hard work will end up in a foreigner’s house.
11 You will groan at the end
when your body and flesh are exhausted,
12 and you say, “How I hated instruction!
How my heart despised correction!
13 I didn’t listen to the voice of my instructor.
I didn’t obey my teacher.
14 I’m on the brink of utter ruin
in the assembled community.”
15 Drink water from your own cistern,
gushing water from your own well.
16 Should your fountains flood outside,
streams of water in the public squares?
17 They are yours alone,
not for you as well as strangers.
18 May your spring be blessed.
Rejoice in the wife of your youth.
19 She is a lovely deer, a graceful doe.
Let her breasts intoxicate you all the time;
always be drunk on her love.
20 Why, my son, should you lose your senses with a mysterious woman
and embrace the breasts of a foreign female?
21 The Lord’s eyes watch over every person’s path,
observing all their ways.
22 The wicked will be caught by their own evil acts,
grabbed by the ropes of their own sin.
23 Those without instruction will die,
misled by their own stupidity.
4 I’m saying that as long as the heirs are minors, they are no different from slaves, though they really are the owners of everything. 2 However, they are placed under trustees and guardians until the date set by the parents. 3 In the same way, when we were minors, we were also enslaved by this world’s system. 4 But when the fulfillment of the time came, God sent his Son, born through a woman, and born under the Law. 5 This was so he could redeem those under the Law so that we could be adopted. 6 Because you are sons and daughters, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore, you are no longer a slave but a son or daughter, and if you are his child, then you are also an heir through God.
Paul’s concern for the Galatians
8 At the time, when you didn’t know God, you were enslaved by things that aren’t gods by nature. 9 But now, after knowing God (or rather, being known by God), how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless world system? Do you want to be slaves to it again? 10 You observe religious days and months and seasons and years. 11 I’m afraid for you! Perhaps my hard work for you has been for nothing.
12 I beg you to be like me, brothers and sisters, because I have become like you! You haven’t wronged me. 13 You know that I first preached the gospel to you because of an illness. 14 Though my poor health burdened you, you didn’t look down on me or reject me, but you welcomed me as if I were an angel from God, or as if I were Christ Jesus! 15 Where then is the great attitude that you had? I swear that, if possible, you would have dug out your eyes and given them to me. 16 So then, have I become your enemy by telling you the truth? 17 They are so concerned about you, though not with good intentions. Rather, they want to shut you out so that you would run after them. 18 However, it’s always good to have people concerned about you with good intentions, and not just when I’m there with you. 19 My little children, I’m going through labor pains again until Christ is formed in you. 20 But I wish I could be with you now and change how I sound, because I’m at a loss about you.
Slave versus free
21 Tell me—those of you who want to be under the Law—don’t you listen to the Law? 22 It’s written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and one by the free woman. 23 The son by the slave woman was conceived the normal way, but the son by the free woman was conceived through a promise. 24 These things are an allegory: the women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, which gives birth to slave children; this is Hagar. 25 Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and she corresponds to the present-day Jerusalem, because the city is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother. 27 It’s written:
Rejoice, barren woman, you who have not given birth.
Break out with a shout, you who have not suffered labor pains;
because the woman who has been deserted will have many more children
than the woman who has a husband.[a]
28 Brothers and sisters, you are children of the promise like Isaac. 29 But just as it was then, so it is now also: the one who was conceived the normal way harassed the one who was conceived by the Spirit. 30 But what does the scripture say? Throw out the slave woman and her son, because the slave woman’s son won’t share the inheritance with the free woman’s son.[b] 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we aren’t the slave woman’s children, but we are the free woman’s children.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible