M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
35 Moses gathered together the whole Israelite community and said to them: These are the things that the Lord has commanded you to do:
Instructions for the Sabbath
2 Do your work for six days, but the seventh day should be holy to you, a Sabbath of complete rest for the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath will be put to death. 3 Don’t start a fire in any of your homes on the Sabbath day.
Preparing to build the dwelling
4 Moses said to the whole Israelite community, This is what the Lord has commanded: 5 Collect gift offerings for the Lord from all of you. Whoever freely wants to give should bring the Lord’s gift offerings: gold, silver, and copper; 6 blue, purple, and deep red yarns; fine linen; goats’ hair; 7 rams’ skins dyed red; beaded leather;[a] acacia wood; 8 the oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the sweet-smelling incense; 9 gemstones; and gems for setting in the priest’s vest[b] and in the priest’s chest pendant.
10 All of you who are skilled in crafts should come forward and make everything that the Lord has commanded: 11 the dwelling, its tent and its covering, its clasps, its boards, its bars, its posts, and its bases, 12 the chest with its poles and its cover, the veil for a screen, 13 the table with its poles and all its equipment, the bread of the presence, 14 the lampstand for light with its equipment and its lamps, the oil for the light, 15 the incense altar with its poles, the anointing oil and the sweet-smelling incense, the entrance screen for the dwelling’s entrance, 16 the altar for entirely burned offerings with its copper grate, its poles, and all its equipment, the washbasin with its stand, 17 the courtyard’s drapes, its posts, and its bases, and the screen for the courtyard gate, 18 the dwelling’s tent pegs and the courtyard’s tent pegs, and their cords, 19 the woven clothing for ministering in the sanctuary, and the holy clothes for Aaron the priest and his sons for their service as priests.
Gifts for building the dwelling
20 The whole Israelite community left Moses. 21 Everyone who was excited and eager to participate brought the Lord’s gift offerings to be used for building the meeting tent and all its furnishings and for the holy clothes. 22 Both men and women came forward. Everyone who was eager to participate brought pins, earrings, rings, and necklaces, all sorts of gold objects. Everyone raised an uplifted offering of gold to the Lord. 23 And everyone who had blue or purple or deep red yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or rams’ skins dyed red or beaded leather brought them. 24 Everyone who could make a gift offering of silver or copper brought it as the Lord’s gift offering. Everyone who had acacia wood that could be used in any kind of building work brought it. 25 All the skilled women spun cloth with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and deep red yarns and fine linen. 26 All the women who were eager to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27 The chiefs brought gemstones and gems to be set in the priest’s vest and the chest pendant, 28 spices and oil for light and for the anointing oil, and for the sweet-smelling incense. 29 All the Israelite men and women who were eager to contribute something for the work that the Lord had commanded Moses to do brought it as a spontaneous gift to the Lord.
Moses introduces Bezalel and Oholiab
30 Then Moses said to the Israelites: “Look, the Lord has chosen Bezalel, Uri’s son and Hur’s grandson from the tribe of Judah. 31 The Lord has filled him with the divine spirit that will give him skill, ability, and knowledge for every kind of work. 32 He will be able to create designs, do metalwork in gold, silver, and copper, 33 cut stones for setting, carve wood, do every kind of creative work, 34 and have the ability to teach others. Both he and Oholiab, Ahisamach’s son from the tribe of Dan, 35 have been given the skill to do every kind of work done by a gem cutter or a designer or a needleworker in blue, purple, and deep red yarns and in fine linen or a weaver or anyone else doing work or creating designs.
The way, the truth, and the life
14 “Don’t be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in me. 2 My Father’s house has room to spare. If that weren’t the case, would I have told you that I’m going to prepare a place for you? 3 When I go to prepare a place for you, I will return and take you to be with me so that where I am you will be too. 4 You know the way to the place I’m going.”
5 Thomas asked, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you have really known me, you will also know the Father. From now on you know him and have seen him.”
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father; that will be enough for us.”
9 Jesus replied, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been with you all this time? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I have spoken to you I don’t speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Trust me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or at least believe on account of the works themselves. 12 I assure you that whoever believes in me will do the works that I do. They will do even greater works than these because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask for in my name, so that the Father can be glorified in the Son. 14 When you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.
I won’t leave you as orphans
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 I will ask the Father, and he will send another Companion,[a] who will be with you forever. 17 This Companion is the Spirit of Truth, whom the world can’t receive because it neither sees him nor recognizes him. You know him, because he lives with you and will be with you.
18 “I won’t leave you as orphans. I will come to you. 19 Soon the world will no longer see me, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live too. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my Father, you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them loves me. Whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot) asked, “Lord, why are you about to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”
23 Jesus answered, “Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. 24 Whoever doesn’t love me doesn’t keep my words. The word that you hear isn’t mine. It is the word of the Father who sent me.
25 “I have spoken these things to you while I am with you. 26 The Companion,[b] the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and will remind you of everything I told you.
27 “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give you. I give to you not as the world gives. Don’t be troubled or afraid. 28 You have heard me tell you, ‘I’m going away and returning to you.’ If you loved me, you would be happy that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than me. 29 I have told you before it happens so that when it happens you will believe. 30 I won’t say much more to you because this world’s ruler is coming. He has nothing on me. 31 Rather, he comes so that the world will know that I love the Father and do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up. We’re leaving this place.
11 The Lord detests dishonest scales,
but delights in an accurate weight.
2 When pride comes, so does shame,
but wisdom brings humility.
3 Integrity guides the virtuous,
but dishonesty ruins the treacherous.
4 Riches don’t help in the day of wrath,
but righteousness rescues from death.
5 The righteousness of the innocent makes their path straight,
but the wicked fall in their wickedness.
6 Those who do right are saved by their righteousness,
but the untrustworthy are caught by their own desires.
7 When the wicked die, their hope perishes.
Yes, any hope based on money perishes.
8 The righteous are saved from distress,
and the wicked take their place.
9 The godless destroy their neighbors by their words,
but the righteous are saved by their knowledge.
10 When the righteous succeed, a city rejoices;
when the wicked perish, there are shouts of joy.
11 A city is honored by the blessing of the virtuous;
it is destroyed by the words of the wicked.
12 Whoever despises their neighbor lacks sense;
a sensible person keeps quiet.
13 A slanderer walks around revealing secrets,
but a trustworthy person keeps a confidence.
14 Without guidance, a people will fall,
but there is victory with many counselors.
15 Guaranteeing the debt of a stranger brings big trouble,
but the one who refuses to shake hands will be secure.
16 A gracious woman gains honor;
violent men gain only wealth.
17 Kind persons benefit themselves,
but cruel people harm themselves.
18 The wicked earn false wages,
but those who sow righteousness receive a true reward.
19 The righteous are headed toward life,
but those who pursue evil, toward death.
20 The Lord detests a crooked heart,
but he favors those whose path is innocent.
21 The evil person will surely not go unpunished,
but the children of the righteous will escape.
22 Like a gold ring in a pig’s nose
is a beautiful woman who lacks discretion.
23 The desires of the righteous end up well,
but the expectations of the wicked bring wrath.
24 Those who give generously receive more,
but those who are stingy with what is appropriate will grow needy.
25 Generous persons will prosper;
those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.
26 People curse those who hoard grain,
but they bless those[a] who sell it.
27 Those who look for good find favor,
but those who seek evil—it will come to them.
28 Those who trust in their wealth will wither,
but the righteous will thrive like leafy trees.
29 Those who trouble their family will inherit the wind.
The fool will be servant to the wise.
30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life,
and the wise gather lives.[b]
31 If the righteous receive their due on earth,
how much more the wicked and sinners?
Unity of the body of Christ
4 Therefore, as a prisoner for the Lord, I encourage you to live as people worthy of the call you received from God. 2 Conduct yourselves with all humility, gentleness, and patience. Accept each other with love, 3 and make an effort to preserve the unity of the Spirit with the peace that ties you together. 4 You are one body and one spirit, just as God also called you in one hope. 5 There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 and one God and Father of all, who is over all, through all, and in all.
7 God has given his grace to each one of us measured out by the gift that is given by Christ. 8 That’s why scripture says, When he climbed up to the heights, he captured prisoners, and he gave gifts to people.[a]
9 What does the phrase “he climbed up” mean if it doesn’t mean that he had first gone down into the lower regions, the earth? 10 The one who went down is the same one who climbed up above all the heavens so that he might fill everything.
11 He gave some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers. 12 His purpose was to equip God’s people for the work of serving and building up the body of Christ 13 until we all reach the unity of faith and knowledge of God’s Son. God’s goal is for us to become mature adults—to be fully grown, measured by the standard of the fullness of Christ. 14 As a result, we aren’t supposed to be infants any longer who can be tossed and blown around by every wind that comes from teaching with deceitful scheming and the tricks people play to deliberately mislead others. 15 Instead, by speaking the truth with love, let’s grow in every way into Christ, 16 who is the head. The whole body grows from him, as it is joined and held together by all the supporting ligaments. The body makes itself grow in that it builds itself up with love as each one does its part.
The old and new life
17 So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, 18 and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. 19 They are people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed.
20 But you didn’t learn that sort of thing from Christ. 21 Since you really listened to him and you were taught how the truth is in Jesus, 22 change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. 23 Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit 24 and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness.
25 Therefore, after you have gotten rid of lying, Each of you must tell the truth to your neighbor[b] because we are parts of each other in the same body. 26 Be angry without sinning.[c] Don’t let the sun set on your anger. 27 Don’t provide an opportunity for the devil. 28 Thieves should no longer steal. Instead, they should go to work, using their hands to do good so that they will have something to share with whoever is in need.
29 Don’t let any foul words come out of your mouth. Only say what is helpful when it is needed for building up the community so that it benefits those who hear what you say. 30 Don’t make the Holy Spirit of God unhappy—you were sealed by him for the day of redemption. 31 Put aside all bitterness, losing your temper, anger, shouting, and slander, along with every other evil. 32 Be kind, compassionate, and forgiving to each other, in the same way God forgave you in Christ.
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible