M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

6 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Say to the Israelites, When either a man or a woman shall make a special vow, the vow of a Nazirite, that is, one separated and consecrated to the Lord,

³ He shall separate himself from wine and strong drink; he shall drink no vinegar of wine or of strong drink, and shall drink no grape juice, or eat grapes, fresh or dried.^(A)

⁴ All the days of his separation he shall eat nothing produced from the grapevine, not even the seeds or the skins.

⁵ All the days of the vow of his separation and abstinence there shall no razor come upon his head. Until the time is completed for which he separates himself to the Lord, he shall be holy, and shall let the locks of the hair of his head grow long.

⁶ All the days that he separates himself to the Lord he shall not go near a dead body.

⁷ He shall not make himself unclean for his father, mother, brother, or sister, when they die, because his separation and abstinence to his God is upon his head.

⁸ All the days of his separation and abstinence he is holy to the Lord.

⁹ And if any man dies very suddenly beside him, and he has defiled his consecrated head, then he shall shave his head on the day of his cleansing; on the seventh day shall he shave it.

¹⁰ On the eighth day he shall bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons to the priest to the door of the Tent of Meeting,

¹¹ And the priest shall offer the one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering and make atonement for him because he sinned by reason of the dead body. He shall consecrate his head the same day,

¹² And he shall consecrate and separate himself to the Lord for the days of his separation and shall bring a male lamb a year old for a trespass or guilt offering; but the previous days shall be void and lost, because his separation was defiled.

¹³ And this is the law of the Nazirite when the days of his separation and abstinence are fulfilled. He shall be brought to the door of the Tent of Meeting,

¹⁴ And he shall offer his gift to the Lord, one he-lamb a year old without blemish for a burnt offering, and one ewe lamb a year old without blemish for a sin offering, and one ram without blemish for a peace offering,

¹⁵ And a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread spread with oil, and their cereal offering, and their drink offering.

¹⁶ And the priest shall present them before the Lord and shall offer the person’s sin offering and his burnt offering.

¹⁷ And he shall offer the ram for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, with the basket of unleavened bread; the priest shall offer also its cereal offering and its drink offering.

¹⁸ And the Nazirite shall shave his consecrated head at the door of the Tent of Meeting, and shall take the hair and put it on the fire which is under the sacrifice of the peace offerings.

¹⁹ And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake out of the basket, and one unleavened wafer and shall put them upon the hands of the Nazirite, after he has shaven the hair of his separation and abstinence.

²⁰ And the priest shall wave them for a wave offering before the Lord; they are a holy portion for the priest, with the breast that is waved and the thigh or shoulder that is offered; and after that the Nazirite may drink wine.

²¹ This is the law for the Nazirite who has made a vow. His offering to the Lord, besides what else he is able to afford, shall be according to the vow which he has vowed; so shall he do according to the law for his separation and abstinence [as a Nazirite].^(B)

²² And the Lord said to Moses,

²³ Say to Aaron and his sons, This is the way you shall bless the Israelites. Say to them,

²⁴ The Lord bless you and watch, guard, and keep you;

²⁵ The Lord make His face to shine upon and enlighten you and be gracious (kind, merciful, and giving favor) to you;

²⁶ The Lord lift up His [approving] countenance upon you and give you peace (tranquility of heart and life continually).

²⁷ And they shall put My name upon the Israelites, and I will bless them.

Psalm 40

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ I waited patiently and expectantly for the Lord; and He inclined to me and heard my cry.

² He drew me up out of a horrible pit [a pit of tumult and of destruction], out of the miry clay (froth and slime), and set my feet upon a rock, steadying my steps and establishing my goings.

³ And He has put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many shall see and fear (revere and worship) and put their trust and confident reliance in the Lord.^(A)

⁴ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is the man who makes the Lord his refuge and trust, and turns not to the proud or to followers of false gods.

⁵ Many, O Lord my God, are the wonderful works which You have done, and Your thoughts toward us; no one can compare with You! If I should declare and speak of them, they are too many to be numbered.

⁶ Sacrifice and offering You do not desire, nor have You delight in them; You have given me the capacity to hear and obey [Your law, a more valuable service than] burnt offerings and sin offerings [which] You do not require.

⁷ Then said I, Behold, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me;

⁸ I delight to do Your will, O my God; yes, Your law is within my heart.^(B)

⁹ I have proclaimed glad tidings of righteousness in the great assembly [tidings of uprightness and right standing with God]. Behold, I have not restrained my lips, as You know, O Lord.

¹⁰ I have not concealed Your righteousness within my heart; I have proclaimed Your faithfulness and Your salvation. I have not hid away Your steadfast love and Your truth from the great assembly.^(C)

¹¹ Withhold not Your tender mercy from me, O Lord; let Your loving-kindness and Your truth continually preserve me!

¹² For innumerable evils have compassed me about; my iniquities have taken such hold on me that I am not able to look up. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed me and forsaken me.

¹³ Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me!

¹⁴ Let them be put to shame and confounded together who seek and require my life to destroy it; let them be driven backward and brought to dishonor who wish me evil and delight in my hurt!

¹⁵ Let them be desolate by reason of their shame who say to me, Aha, aha!

¹⁶ Let all those that seek and require You rejoice and be glad in You; let such as love Your salvation say continually, The Lord be magnified!

¹⁷ [As for me] I am poor and needy, yet the Lord takes thought and plans for me. You are my Help and my Deliverer. O my God, do not tarry!^(D)

Psalm 41

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

¹ Blessed (happy, fortunate, to be envied) is he who considers the weak and the poor; the Lord will deliver him in the time of evil and trouble.

² The Lord will protect him and keep him alive; he shall be called blessed in the land; and You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.

³ The Lord will sustain, refresh, and strengthen him on his bed of languishing; all his bed You [O Lord] will turn, change, and transform in his illness.

⁴ I said, Lord, be merciful and gracious to me; heal my inner self, for I have sinned against You.

⁵ My enemies speak evil of me, [saying], When will he die and his name perish?

⁶ And when one comes to see me, he speaks falsehood and empty words, while his heart gathers mischievous gossip [against me]; when he goes away, he tells it abroad.

⁷ All who hate me whisper together about me; against me do they devise my hurt [imagining the worst for me].

⁸ An evil disease, say they, is poured out upon him and cleaves fast to him; and now that he is bedfast, he will not rise up again.

⁹ Even my own familiar friend, in whom I trusted (relied on and was confident), who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.^(E)

¹⁰ But You, O Lord, be merciful and gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.

¹¹ By this I know that You favor and delight in me, because my enemy does not triumph over me.

¹² And as for me, You have upheld me in my integrity and set me in Your presence forever.

¹³ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting and to everlasting [from this age to the next, and forever]! Amen and Amen (so be it).

4 How fair you are, my love [he said], how very fair! Your eyes behind your veil [remind me] of those of a dove; your hair [makes me think of the black, wavy fleece] of a flock of [the Arabian] goats which one sees trailing down Mount Gilead [beyond the Jordan on the frontiers of the desert].

² Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes which have come up from the washing, of which all are in pairs, and none is missing among them.

³ Your lips are like a thread of scarlet, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil.

⁴ Your neck is like the tower of David, built for an arsenal, whereon hang a thousand bucklers, all of them shields of warriors.

⁵ Your two breasts are like two fawns, like twins of a gazelle that feed among the lilies.

⁶ Until the day breaks and the shadows flee away, [in my thoughts] I will get to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense [to him whom my soul adores].

⁷ [He exclaimed] O my love, how beautiful you are! There is no flaw in you!^(A)

⁸ Come ^[a]away with me from Lebanon, my [promised] bride, come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the top of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.^(B)

⁹ You have ravished my heart and given me courage, my sister, my [promised] bride; you have ravished my heart and given me courage with one look from your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace.

¹⁰ How beautiful is your love, my sister, my [promised] bride! How much better is your love than wine! And the fragrance of your ointments than all spices!^(C)

¹¹ Your lips, O my [promised] bride, drop honey as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue. And the odor of your garments is like the odor of Lebanon.

¹² A garden enclosed and barred is my sister, my [promised] bride—a spring shut up, a fountain sealed.

¹³ Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates or a paradise with precious fruits, henna with spikenard plants,^(D)

¹⁴ Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and aloes, with all the chief spices.

¹⁵ You are a fountain [springing up] in a garden, a well of living waters, and flowing streams from Lebanon.^(E)

¹⁶ [You have called me a garden, she said] Oh, I pray that the [cold] ^[b]north wind and the [soft] south wind may blow upon my garden, that its spices may flow out [in abundance for you in whom my soul delights]. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat its choicest fruits.

4 Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still holds and is offered [today], let us be afraid [^[a]to distrust it], lest any of you should ^[b]think he has come too late and has come short of [reaching] it.

² For indeed we have had the glad tidings [Gospel of God] proclaimed to us just as truly as they [the Israelites of old did when the good news of deliverance from bondage came to them]; but the message they heard did not benefit them, because it was not mixed with faith (with ^[c]the leaning of the entire personality on God in absolute trust and confidence in His power, wisdom, and goodness) by those who heard it; ^[d]neither were they united in faith with the ones [Joshua and Caleb] who heard (did believe).

³ For we who have believed (adhered to and trusted in and relied on God) do enter that rest, ^[e]in accordance with His declaration that those [who did not believe] should not enter when He said, As I swore in My wrath, They shall not enter My rest; and this He said although [His] works had been completed and prepared [and waiting for all who would believe] from the foundation of the world.^(A)

⁴ For in a certain place He has said this about the seventh day: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works.^(B)

⁵ And [they forfeited their part in it, for] in this [passage] He said, They shall not enter My rest.^(C)

⁶ Seeing then that the promise remains over [from past times] for some to enter that rest, and that those who formerly were given the good news about it and the opportunity, failed to appropriate it and did not enter because of disobedience,

⁷ Again He sets a definite day, [a new] Today, [and gives another opportunity of securing that rest] saying through David after so long a time in the words already quoted, Today, if you would hear His voice and when you hear it, do not harden your hearts.^(D)

⁸ [This mention of a rest was not a reference to their entering into Canaan.] For if Joshua had given them rest, He [God] would not speak afterward about another day.

⁹ So then, there is still awaiting a full and complete Sabbath-rest reserved for the [true] people of God;

¹⁰ For he who has once entered [God’s] rest also has ceased from [the weariness and pain] of human labors, just as God rested from those labors ^[f]peculiarly His own.^(E)

¹¹ Let us therefore be zealous and exert ourselves and strive diligently to enter that rest [of God, to know and experience it for ourselves], that no one may fall or perish by the same kind of unbelief and disobedience [into which those in the wilderness fell].

¹² For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the ^[g]breath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

¹³ And not a creature exists that is concealed from His sight, but all things are open and exposed, naked and defenseless to the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do.

¹⁴ Inasmuch then as we have a great High Priest Who has [already] ascended and passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession [of faith in Him].

¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest Who is unable to understand and sympathize and have a shared feeling with our weaknesses and infirmities and liability to the assaults of temptation, but One Who has been tempted in every respect as we are, yet without sinning.

¹⁶ Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favor to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need [appropriate help and well-timed help, coming just when we need it].