M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
On Defilement
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the sons of Israel that they (A)send away from the camp every leper and everyone having a (B)discharge and everyone who is (C)unclean because of a dead person. 3 You shall send away both male and female; you shall send them outside the camp so that they will not defile their camp where I dwell (D)in their midst.” 4 The sons of Israel did so and sent them outside the camp; just as the Lord had spoken to Moses, thus the sons of Israel did.
5 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Speak to the sons of Israel, ‘(E)When a man or woman commits any of the sins of mankind, acting unfaithfully against the Lord, and that person is guilty, 7 then [a]he shall (F)confess [b]his sins which [c]he has committed, and he (G)shall make restitution in full for his wrong and add to it one-fifth of it, and give it to him whom he has wronged. 8 But if the man has no [d]relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution which is made for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, besides the ram of atonement, by which atonement is made for him. 9 (H)Also every [e]contribution pertaining to all the holy gifts of the sons of Israel, which they offer to the priest, shall be his. 10 So every man’s holy gifts shall be his; whatever any man gives to the priest, it (I)becomes his.’”
The Adultery Test
11 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, ‘If any man’s wife (J)goes astray and is unfaithful to him, 13 and a man has (K)intercourse with her and it is hidden from the eyes of her husband and she is [f]undetected, although she has defiled herself, and there is no witness against her and she has not been caught in the act, 14 [g]if a spirit of (L)jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has defiled herself, or if a spirit of jealousy comes over him and he is jealous of his wife when she has not defiled herself, 15 the man shall then bring his wife to the priest, and shall bring as [h]an offering for her one-tenth of an [i]ephah of barley meal; he shall not pour oil on it nor put frankincense on it, for it is a grain offering of jealousy, a grain offering of memorial, (M)a reminder of iniquity.
16 ‘Then the priest shall bring her near and have her stand before the Lord, 17 and the priest shall take holy water in an earthenware vessel; and [j]he shall take some of the dust that is on the floor of the tabernacle and put it into the water. 18 The priest shall then have the woman stand before the Lord and let the hair of the woman’s head go loose, and place the grain offering of memorial [k]in her hands, which is the grain offering of jealousy, and in the hand of the priest is to be the water of bitterness that brings a curse. 19 The priest shall have her take an oath and shall say to the woman, “If no man has lain with you and if you have not (N)gone astray into uncleanness, being under the authority of your husband, be [l]immune to this water of bitterness that brings a curse; 20 if you, however, have (O)gone astray, being under the authority of your husband, and if you have defiled yourself and a man other than your husband has had intercourse with you” 21 (then the priest shall have the woman (P)swear with the oath of the curse, and the priest shall say to the woman), “the Lord make you a curse and an oath among your people by the Lord’s making your thigh [m]waste away and your abdomen swell; 22 and this water that brings a curse shall go into your [n]stomach, and make your abdomen swell and your thigh [o]waste away.” And the woman (Q)shall say, “Amen. Amen.”
23 ‘The priest shall then write these curses on a scroll, and he shall [p]wash them off into the water of bitterness. 24 Then he shall make the woman drink the water of bitterness that brings a curse, so that the water which brings a curse will go into her [q]and cause bitterness. 25 The priest shall take the grain offering of jealousy from the woman’s hand, and he shall wave the grain offering before the Lord and bring it to the altar; 26 and (R)the priest shall take a handful of the grain offering as its memorial offering and offer it up in smoke on the altar, and afterward he shall make the woman drink the water. 27 When he has made her drink the water, then it shall come about, if she has defiled herself and has been unfaithful to her husband, that the water which brings a curse will go into her [r]and cause bitterness, and her abdomen will swell and her thigh will [s]waste away, and the woman will become (S)a curse among her people. 28 But if the woman has not defiled herself and is clean, she will then be free and conceive [t]children.
29 ‘This is the law of jealousy: when a wife, being under the authority of her husband, (T)goes astray and defiles herself, 30 or when a spirit of jealousy comes over a man and he is jealous of his wife, he shall then make the woman stand before the Lord, and the priest shall apply all this law to her. 31 Moreover, the man will be free from [u]guilt, but that woman shall (U)bear her [v]guilt.’”
The Vanity of Life.
For the choir director, for [a]Jeduthun. A Psalm of David.
39 I said, “I will (A)guard my ways
That I (B)may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard (C)my mouth as with a muzzle
While the wicked are in my presence.”
2 I was (D)mute [b]and silent,
I [c]refrained even from good,
And my [d]sorrow grew worse.
3 My (E)heart was hot within me,
While I was musing the fire burned;
Then I spoke with my tongue:
4 “Lord, make me to know (F)my end
And what is the extent of my days;
Let me know how (G)transient I am.
5 “Behold, You have made (H)my days as handbreadths,
And my (I)lifetime as nothing in Your sight;
Surely every man [e]at his best is [f]a mere (J)breath. [g]Selah.
6 “Surely every man (K)walks about as [h]a phantom;
Surely they make an (L)uproar for nothing;
He (M)amasses riches and does not know who will gather them.
7 “And now, Lord, for what do I wait?
My (N)hope is in You.
8 “(O)Deliver me from all my transgressions;
Make me not the (P)reproach of the foolish.
9 “I have become (Q)mute, I do not open my mouth,
Because it is (R)You who have done it.
10 “(S)Remove Your plague from me;
Because of (T)the opposition of Your hand I am [i]perishing.
11 “With (U)reproofs You chasten a man for iniquity;
You (V)consume as a moth what is precious to him;
Surely (W)every man is a mere breath. Selah.
The Bride’s Troubled Dream
3 “[a]On my bed night after night I sought him
(A)Whom my soul loves;
I (B)sought him but did not find him.
2 ‘[b]I must arise now and [c]go about the city;
In the (C)streets and in the squares
[d]I must seek him whom my soul loves.’
I sought him but did not find him.
3 “(D)The watchmen who make the rounds in the city found me,
And I said, ‘Have you seen him whom my soul loves?’
4 “(E)Scarcely had I [e]left them
When I found him whom my soul loves;
I (F)held on to him and would not let him go
Until I had (G)brought him to my mother’s house,
And into the room of her who conceived me.”
5 “[f]I (H)adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,
By the (I)gazelles or by the hinds of the field,
That you will not arouse or awaken my love
Until [g]she pleases.”
Solomon’s Wedding Day
6 “[h][i](J)What is this coming up from the wilderness
Like (K)columns of smoke,
Perfumed with (L)myrrh and (M)frankincense,
With all scented powders of the merchant?
7 “Behold, it is the traveling couch of Solomon;
Sixty mighty men around it,
Of the mighty men of Israel.
8 “All of them are wielders of the sword,
(N)Expert in war;
Each man has his (O)sword at his side,
Guarding against the [j](P)terrors of the night.
9 “King Solomon has made for himself a sedan chair
From the timber of Lebanon.
10 “He made its posts of silver,
Its [k]back of gold
And its seat of purple fabric,
With its interior lovingly fitted out
By the (Q)daughters of Jerusalem.
11 “Go forth, O (R)daughters of Zion,
And gaze on King Solomon with the [l]crown
With which his mother has crowned him
On the (S)day of his wedding,
And on the day of his gladness of heart.”
Jesus Our High Priest
3 Therefore, (A)holy brethren, partakers of a (B)heavenly calling, consider Jesus, (C)the Apostle and (D)High Priest of our (E)confession; 2 [a]He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as (F)Moses also was in all His house. 3 (G)For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. 5 Now (H)Moses was faithful in all His house as (I)a servant, (J)for a testimony of those things (K)which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as (L)a Son over His house—(M)whose house we are, (N)if we hold fast our (O)confidence and the boast of our (P)hope firm until the end.
7 Therefore, just as (Q)the Holy Spirit says,
“(R)Today if you hear His voice,
8 (S)Do not harden your hearts as [b]when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness,
9 (T)Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me,
And saw My works for (U)forty years.
10 “(V)Therefore I was angry with this generation,
And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
And they did not know My ways’;
11 (W)As I swore in My wrath,
‘They shall not enter My rest.’”
The Peril of Unbelief
12 (X)Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart [c]that falls away from (Y)the living God. 13 But (Z)encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called “Today,” so that none of you will be hardened by the (AA)deceitfulness of sin. 14 For we have become partakers of Christ, (AB)if we hold fast the beginning of our (AC)assurance firm until the end, 15 while it is said,
16 For who (AE)provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, (AF)did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? 17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, (AG)whose bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear (AH)that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were (AI)disobedient? 19 So we see that they were not able to enter because of (AJ)unbelief.
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