M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

10 And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, and put incense on it, and offered strange and unholy fire before the Lord, as He had not commanded them.

² And there came forth fire from before the Lord and killed them, and they died before the Lord.

³ Then Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord meant when He said, I ^[a][and My will, not their own] will be acknowledged as hallowed by those who come near Me, and before all the people I will be honored. And Aaron said nothing.

⁴ Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, sons of Uzziel uncle of Aaron, and said to them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.

⁵ So they drew near and carried them in their undertunics [stripped of their priestly vestments] out of the camp, as Moses had said.

⁶ And Moses said to Aaron and Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons [the father and brothers of the two priests whom God had slain for offering false fire], Do not uncover your heads or let your hair go loose or tear your clothes, lest you die [also] and lest God’s wrath should come upon all the congregation; but let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled.

⁷ And you shall not go out from the door of the Tent of Meeting, lest you die, for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you. And they did according to Moses’ word.

⁸ And the Lord said to Aaron,

⁹ Do not drink wine or strong drink, you or your sons, when you go into the Tent of Meeting, lest you die; it shall be a statute forever in all your generations.

¹⁰ You shall make a distinction and recognize a difference between the holy and the common or unholy, and between the unclean and the clean;

¹¹ And you are to teach the Israelites all the statutes which the Lord has spoken to them by Moses.

¹² And Moses said to Aaron and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons who were left, Take the cereal offering that remains of the offerings of the Lord made by fire and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most holy.

¹³ You shall eat it in a sacred place, because it is your due and your sons’ due, from the offerings made by fire to the Lord; for so I am commanded.

¹⁴ But the breast that is waved and the thigh that is offered you shall eat in a clean place, you and your sons and daughters with you; for they are your due and your sons’ due, given out of the sacrifices of the peace offerings of the Israelites.

¹⁵ The thigh that is offered and the breast that is waved they shall bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave for a wave offering before the Lord; and it shall be yours and your sons’ with you as a portion or due perpetually, as the Lord has commanded.

¹⁶ And Moses diligently tried to find [what had become of] the goat [that had been offered] for the sin offering, and behold, it was burned up [as waste]! And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron who were left alive, and said,

¹⁷ Why have you not eaten the sin offering in the Holy Place? It is most holy; and God has given it to you to bear and take away the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.

¹⁸ Behold, the blood of it was not brought within the Holy Place; you should indeed have eaten [the flesh of it] in the Holy Place, as I commanded.

¹⁹ But Aaron said to Moses, Behold, this very day in which they have [obediently] offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, such [terrible calamities] have befallen me [and them]! If I [and they] had eaten the most holy sin offering today [humbled as we have been by the sin of our kinsmen and God’s judgment upon them], would it have been acceptable in the sight of the Lord?^(A)

²⁰ And when Moses heard that, he was pacified.

Psalm 11

To the Chief Musician or Choir Leader. [A Psalm] of David.

¹ In the Lord I take refuge [and put my trust]; how can you say to me, Flee like a bird to your mountain?

² For see, the wicked are bending the bow; they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they [furtively] in darkness may shoot at the upright in heart.

³ If the foundations are destroyed, what can the [unyieldingly] righteous do, or what has He [the Righteous One] wrought or accomplished?

⁴ The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord’s throne is in heaven. His eyes behold; His eyelids test and prove the children of men.^(A)

⁵ The Lord tests and proves the [unyieldingly] righteous, but His soul abhors the wicked and him who loves violence.^(B)

⁶ Upon the wicked He will rain quick burning coals or snares; fire, brimstone, and a [dreadful] scorching wind shall be the portion of their cup.

⁷ For the Lord is [rigidly] righteous, He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face, or He beholds the upright.

Psalm 12

To the Chief Musician; set [possibly] an octave below. A Psalm of David.

¹ Help, Lord! For principled and godly people are here no more; faithfulness and the faithful vanish from among the sons of men.

² To his neighbor each one speaks words without use or worth or truth; with flattering lips and double heart [deceitfully] they speak.

³ May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongues that speak proud boasting,

⁴ Those who say, With our tongues we prevail; our lips are our own [to command at our will]—who is lord and master over us?

⁵ Now will I arise, says the Lord, because the poor are oppressed, because of the groans of the needy; I will set him in safety and in the salvation for which he pants.

⁶ The words and promises of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times over.

⁷ You will keep them and preserve them, O Lord; You will guard and keep us from this [evil] generation forever.

⁸ The wicked walk or prowl about on every side, as vileness is exalted [and baseness is rated high] among the sons of men.

25 These are also the proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied:^(A)

² It is the glory of God to conceal a thing, but the glory of kings is to search out a thing.^(B)

³ As the heavens for height and the earth for depth, so the hearts and minds of kings are unsearchable.

⁴ Take away the dross from the silver, and there shall come forth [the material for] a vessel for the silversmith [to work up].^(C)

⁵ Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne will be established in righteousness (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation).

⁶ Be not forward (self-assertive and boastfully ambitious) in the presence of the king, and stand not in the place of great men;

⁷ For better it is that it should be said to you, Come up here, than that you should be put lower in the presence of the prince, whose eyes have seen you.^(D)

⁸ Rush not forth soon to quarrel [before magistrates or elsewhere], lest you know not what to do in the end when your neighbor has put you to shame.^(E)

⁹ Argue your cause with your neighbor himself; discover not and disclose not another’s secret,^(F)

¹⁰ Lest he who hears you revile you and bring shame upon you and your ill repute have no end.

¹¹ A word fitly spoken and in due season is like apples of gold in settings of silver.^(G)

¹² Like an earring or nose ring of gold or an ornament of fine gold is a wise reprover to an ear that listens and obeys.

¹³ Like the cold of snow [brought from the mountains] in the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to those who send him; for he refreshes the life of his masters.

¹⁴ Whoever falsely boasts of gifts [he does not give] is like clouds and wind without rain.^(H)

¹⁵ By long forbearance and calmness of spirit a judge or ruler is persuaded, and soft speech breaks down the most bonelike resistance.^(I)

¹⁶ Have you found [pleasure sweet like] honey? Eat only as much as is sufficient for you, lest, being filled with it, you vomit it.

¹⁷ Let your foot seldom be in your neighbor’s house, lest he become tired of you and hate you.

¹⁸ A man who bears false witness against his neighbor is like a heavy sledgehammer and a sword and a sharp arrow.

¹⁹ Confidence in an unfaithful man in time of trouble is like a broken tooth or a foot out of joint.

²⁰ He who sings songs to a heavy heart is like him who lays off a garment in cold weather and like vinegar upon soda.^(J)

²¹ If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat; and if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;^(K)

²² For in doing so, you will ^[a]heap coals of fire upon his head, and the Lord will reward you.

²³ The north wind brings forth rain; so does a backbiting tongue bring forth an angry countenance.

²⁴ It is better to dwell in the corner of the housetop than to share a house with a disagreeing, quarrelsome, and scolding woman.^(L)

²⁵ Like cold water to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far [home] country.

²⁶ Like a muddied fountain and a polluted spring is a righteous man who yields, falls down, and compromises his integrity before the wicked.

²⁷ It is not good to eat much honey; so for men to seek glory, their own glory, causes suffering and is not glory.

²⁸ He who has no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down and without walls.^(M)

4 Furthermore, ^[a]brethren, we beg and admonish you in [virtue of our union with] the Lord Jesus, that [you follow the instructions which] you learned from us about how you ought to walk so as to please and gratify God, as indeed you are doing, [and] that you do so even more and more abundantly [attaining yet greater perfection in living this life].

² For you know what charges and precepts we gave you [^[b]on the authority and by the inspiration of] the Lord Jesus.

³ For this is the will of God, that you should be consecrated (separated and set apart for pure and holy living): that you should abstain and shrink from all sexual vice,

⁴ That each one of you should know how to ^[c]possess (control, manage) his own ^[d]body in consecration (purity, separated from things profane) and honor,

⁵ Not [to be used] in the passion of lust like the heathen, who are ignorant of the true God and have no knowledge of His will,

⁶ That no man transgress and overreach his brother and defraud him in this matter or defraud his brother in business. For the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we have already warned you solemnly and ^[e]told you plainly.

⁷ For God has not called us to impurity but to consecration [to dedicate ourselves to the most thorough purity].

⁸ Therefore whoever disregards (sets aside and rejects this) disregards not man but God, Whose [very] Spirit [Whom] He gives to you is holy (chaste, pure).

⁹ But concerning brotherly love [for all other Christians], you have no need to have anyone write you, for you yourselves have been [personally] taught by God to love one another.

¹⁰ And indeed you already are [extending and displaying your love] to all the brethren throughout Macedonia. But we beseech and earnestly exhort you, brethren, that you ^[f]excel [in this matter] more and more,

¹¹ To make it your ambition and definitely endeavor to live quietly and peacefully, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you,

¹² So that you may bear yourselves becomingly and be correct and honorable and command the respect of the outside world, being dependent on nobody [self-supporting] and having need of nothing.

¹³ Now also we would not have you ignorant, brethren, about those who fall asleep [^[g]in death], that you may not grieve [for them] as the rest do who have no hope [beyond the grave].

¹⁴ For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will also bring with Him through Jesus those who have fallen asleep [^[h]in death].

¹⁵ For this we declare to you by the Lord’s [own] word, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall in no way precede [into His presence] or have any advantage at all over those who have previously fallen asleep [in Him ^[i]in death].

¹⁶ For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a loud cry of summons, with the shout of an archangel, and with the blast of the trumpet of God. And those who have departed this life in Christ will rise first.

¹⁷ Then we, the living ones who remain [on the earth], shall simultaneously be caught up along with [the resurrected dead] in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and so always (through the eternity of the eternities) we shall be with the Lord!

¹⁸ Therefore comfort and encourage one another with these words.