M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Instructions for the incense altar
30 Make an acacia-wood altar for burning incense. 2 The altar should be square, eighteen inches long and eighteen inches wide. It should be three feet high. Its horns should be permanently attached. 3 Cover the altar with pure gold, including its top, all its sides, and its horns. You should also make a gold molding all around it. 4 Make two gold rings and attach them under the molding on two opposite sides of the altar. They will house the poles used to carry the altar. 5 Make acacia-wood poles and cover them with gold. 6 Place the incense altar in front of the veil that hangs before the chest containing the covenant, in front of the cover that is on top of the covenant document where I will meet with you. 7 Aaron will burn sweet-smelling incense on the incense altar every morning when he takes care of the lamps. 8 And again when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he will burn incense. It should be a regular incense offering in the Lord’s presence in every generation. 9 Don’t offer the wrong incense on the altar or an entirely burned offering or a grain offering. Don’t pour a drink offering on it. 10 Once a year Aaron should perform a ritual of reconciliation on its horns with the blood of the purification offering for reconciliation. Once a year in every generation he should perform a ritual of reconciliation at the altar. It is most holy to the Lord.
Census and compensation
11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12 When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each of them should pay compensation for their life to the Lord when they are counted. Then no plague will descend on them when they are counted. 13 Every one who is counted should pay a half shekel according to the official shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs). The half shekel is a gift offering to the Lord. 14 Every one who is counted, from 20 years old and above, should present a gift offering to the Lord. 15 When you bring this gift offering to the Lord to pay compensation for your lives, the rich shouldn’t give more and the poor shouldn’t give less than the half shekel. 16 Take the compensation money from the Israelites and use it to support the service of the meeting tent. It will serve for the Israelites as a reminder in the Lord’s presence of the compensation paid for your lives.
Instructions for the washbasin
17 The Lord spoke to Moses: 18 Make a copper basin for washing along with its copper stand. Put it between the meeting tent and the altar, and put water in it. 19 Aaron and his sons will use it to wash their hands and their feet. 20 When they go into the meeting tent or approach the altar to minister and to offer a food gift to the Lord, they must wash with water so that they don’t die. 21 They must wash their hands and their feet so that they don’t die. This will be a permanent regulation for them, for Aaron and his descendants in every generation.
Instructions for oil and incense
22 The Lord spoke to Moses: 23 Now take for yourself high-quality spices: five hundred weight of solid myrrh; half as much of sweet-smelling cinnamon, that is, two hundred fifty; two hundred fifty weight of sweet-smelling cane; 24 five hundred of cassia—measured by the sanctuary shekel—and a hin[a] of olive oil. 25 Prepare a holy anointing oil, blending them like a skilled perfume maker to produce the holy anointing oil. 26 Use it to anoint the meeting tent, the chest containing the covenant, 27 the table and all its equipment, the lampstand and its equipment, the incense altar, 28 the altar for entirely burned offerings and all its equipment, and the washbasin with its stand. 29 Make them holy so that they may be perfectly holy. Whatever touches them will become holy. 30 Then anoint Aaron and his sons and make them holy to serve me as priests. 31 Say to the Israelites: This will be my holy anointing oil in every generation. 32 Don’t allow anyone else to use this oil. Don’t make another oil like it by using the same formula. This oil is holy, and you should regard it as holy. 33 Whoever blends an oil like it or whoever uses the oil on someone else will be cut off from the people.
34 The Lord said to Moses: Take an equal amount of each of these spices: gum resin, onycha, galbanum, and pure frankincense. 35 Like a skilled perfume maker, carefully blend them together and make incense, seasoned with salt, pure and holy. 36 Beat some of it into a fine powder and put part of it in front of the covenant document in the meeting tent where I will meet with you. You should regard it as perfectly holy. 37 When you make incense according to this formula, you shouldn’t make any of it for your own use. You should regard it as holy to the Lord. 38 Whoever makes incense with this same formula to enjoy its fragrance will be cut off from the people.
Jesus heals a blind man
9 As Jesus walked along, he saw a man who was blind from birth. 2 Jesus’ disciples asked, “Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God’s mighty works might be displayed in him. 4 While it’s daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After he said this, he spit on the ground, made mud with the saliva, and smeared the mud on the man’s eyes. 7 Jesus said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (this word means sent). So the man went away and washed. When he returned, he could see.
Disagreement about the healing
8 The man’s neighbors and those who used to see him when he was a beggar said, “Isn’t this the man who used to sit and beg?”
9 Some said, “It is,” and others said, “No, it’s someone who looks like him.”
But the man said, “Yes, it’s me!”
10 So they asked him, “How are you now able to see?”
11 He answered, “The man they call Jesus made mud, smeared it on my eyes, and said, ‘Go to the pool of Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed, and then I could see.”
12 They asked, “Where is this man?”
He replied, “I don’t know.”
13 Then they led the man who had been born blind to the Pharisees. 14 Now Jesus made the mud and smeared it on the man’s eyes on a Sabbath day. 15 So Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see.
The man told them, “He put mud on my eyes, I washed, and now I see.”
16 Some Pharisees said, “This man isn’t from God, because he breaks the Sabbath law.” Others said, “How can a sinner do miraculous signs like these?” So they were divided. 17 Some of the Pharisees questioned the man who had been born blind again: “What do you have to say about him, since he healed your eyes?”
He replied, “He’s a prophet.”
Conflict over the healing
18 The Jewish leaders didn’t believe the man had been blind and received his sight until they called for his parents. 19 The Jewish leaders asked them, “Is this your son? Are you saying he was born blind? How can he now see?”
20 His parents answered, “We know he is our son. We know he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how he now sees, and we don’t know who healed his eyes. Ask him. He’s old enough to speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they feared the Jewish authorities. This is because the Jewish authorities had already decided that whoever confessed Jesus to be the Christ would be expelled from the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “He’s old enough. Ask him.”
24 Therefore, they called a second time for the man who had been born blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know this man is a sinner.”
25 The man answered, “I don’t know whether he’s a sinner. Here’s what I do know: I was blind and now I see.”
26 They questioned him: “What did he do to you? How did he heal your eyes?”
27 He replied, “I already told you, and you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples too?”
28 They insulted him: “You are his disciple, but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that God spoke to Moses, but we don’t know where this man is from.”
30 The man answered, “This is incredible! You don’t know where he is from, yet he healed my eyes! 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners. God listens to anyone who is devout and does God’s will. 32 No one has ever heard of a healing of the eyes of someone born blind. 33 If this man wasn’t from God, he couldn’t do this.”
34 They responded, “You were born completely in sin! How is it that you dare to teach us?” Then they expelled him.
Jesus finds the man born blind
35 Jesus heard they had expelled the man born blind. Finding him, Jesus said, “Do you believe in the Human One?”[a]
36 He answered, “Who is he, sir?[b] I want to believe in him.”
37 Jesus said, “You have seen him. In fact, he is the one speaking with you.”
38 The man said, “Lord,[c] I believe.” And he worshipped Jesus.
Jesus teaches the Pharisees
39 Jesus said, “I have come into the world to exercise judgment so that those who don’t see can see and those who see will become blind.”
40 Some Pharisees who were with him heard what he said and asked, “Surely we aren’t blind, are we?”
41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you wouldn’t have any sin, but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.
Wise advice
6 My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor
or shake hands in agreement with a stranger,
2 you will be trapped by your words;
you will be caught by your words.
3 Do this, my son, to get out of it,
for you have come under the control of your neighbor.
So go, humble yourself,[a] and pester your neighbor.
4 Don’t give sleep to your eyes
or slumber to your eyelids.
5 Get yourself free like a gazelle from a hunter,
like a bird from the hand of a fowler.
6 Go to the ant, you lazy person;
observe its ways and grow wise.
7 The ant has no commander, officer, or ruler.
8 Even so, it gets its food in summer;
gathers its provisions at harvest.
9 How long, lazy person, will you lie down?
When will you rise from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the arms to lie down—
11 and poverty will come on you like a prowler,
destitution like a warrior.
12 Worthless people and guilty people
go around with crooked talk.
13 They wink their eyes, gesture with their feet,
and point with their fingers.
14 Their hearts are corrupt and determined to do evil;
they create controversies all the time.
15 Therefore, sudden disaster will come upon them;
they will be quickly broken beyond healing.
16 There are six things that the Lord hates,
seven things detestable to him:
17 snobbish eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that spill innocent blood,
18 a heart set on wicked plans,
feet that run quickly to evil,
19 a false witness who breathes lies,
and one who causes conflicts among relatives.
Danger of adultery
20 My son, keep your father’s command;
don’t abandon your mother’s instruction.
21 Bind them on your heart for all time;
fasten them around your neck.
22 When you walk around, they will lead you;
when you lie down, they will protect you;
when you awake, they will occupy your attention.
23 The commandment is a lamp and instruction a light;
corrective teaching is the path of life.
24 They guard you from the evil woman,
from the flattering tongue of the foreign woman.
25 Don’t desire her beauty in secret;
don’t let her take you in with her eyelashes,
26 for a prostitute costs a loaf of bread,[b]
but a married woman hunts for a man’s very life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his lap
and his clothes not get burned?
28 If a man walks on hot coals,
don’t his feet get burned?
29 So is the man who approaches his neighbor’s wife;
anyone who touches her will be punished.
30 People don’t despise a thief if he steals
to fill his starving stomach.
31 But if he is caught, he must pay sevenfold;
he must give all the riches of his house.
32 He who commits adultery is senseless.
Doing so, he destroys himself.
33 He is wounded and disgraced.
His shame will never be wiped away.
34 Jealousy makes a man rage;
he’ll show no mercy on his day of revenge.
35 He won’t accept compensation;
he’ll refuse even a large bribe.
5 1 Christ has set us free for freedom. Therefore, stand firm and don’t submit to the bondage of slavery again.
Arguments against being circumcised
2 Look, I, Paul, am telling you that if you have yourselves circumcised, having Christ won’t help you. 3 Again I swear to every man who has himself circumcised that he is required to do the whole Law. 4 You people who are trying to be made righteous by the Law have been estranged from Christ. You have fallen away from grace! 5 We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness through the Spirit by faith. 6 Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t matter in Christ Jesus, but faith working through love does matter.
7 You were running well—who stopped you from obeying the truth? 8 This line of reasoning doesn’t come from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast works through the whole lump of dough. 10 I’m convinced about you in the Lord that you won’t think any other way. But the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever that may be. 11 Brothers and sisters, if I’m still preaching circumcision, why am I still being harassed? In that case, the offense of the cross would be canceled. 12 I wish that the ones who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!
13 You were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only don’t let this freedom be an opportunity to indulge your selfish impulses, but serve each other through love. 14 All the Law has been fulfilled in a single statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.[a] 15 But if you bite and devour each other, be careful that you don’t get eaten up by each other!
Two different ways of living
16 I say be guided by the Spirit and you won’t carry out your selfish desires. 17 A person’s selfish desires are set against the Spirit, and the Spirit is set against one’s selfish desires. They are opposed to each other, so you shouldn’t do whatever you want to do. 18 But if you are being led by the Spirit, you aren’t under the Law. 19 The actions that are produced by selfish motives are obvious, since they include sexual immorality, moral corruption, doing whatever feels good, 20 idolatry, drug use and casting spells, hate, fighting, obsession, losing your temper, competitive opposition, conflict, selfishness, group rivalry, 21 jealousy, drunkenness, partying, and other things like that. I warn you as I have already warned you, that those who do these kinds of things won’t inherit God’s kingdom.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the self with its passions and its desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit. 26 Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible