M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Aaron Sets Up the Lamps
8 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Say to Aaron, ‘Set up the seven lamps. They will light up the area in front of the lampstand.’ ”
3 So Aaron did it. He set up the lamps so that they faced forward on the lampstand. He did just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 4 The lampstand was made out of hammered gold. From its base to its blooms it was made out of hammered gold. The lampstand was made exactly like the pattern the Lord had shown Moses.
Moses Sets Apart the Levites
5 The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, 6 “Take the Levites from among all the Israelites. Make them ‘clean’ in the usual way. 7 Here is how to make them pure. Sprinkle the special water on them. Then have them shave their whole bodies. Also have them wash their clothes. That is how they will make themselves pure. 8 Have them get a young bull along with its grain offering. The offering must be made out of the finest flour mixed with olive oil. Then you must get a second young bull. You must sacrifice it as a sin offering. 9 Bring the Levites to the front of the tent of meeting. Gather the whole community of Israel together. 10 You must bring the Levites to me. The Israelites must place their hands on them. 11 Aaron must bring the Levites to me. They are a wave offering from the Israelites. That is how they will be set apart to do my work.
12 “Then I want the Levites to place their hands on the heads of the bulls. They must sacrifice one bull as a sin offering to me. And they must sacrifice the other as a burnt offering. The blood of the bulls will pay for the sin of the Levites. 13 Have the Levites stand in front of Aaron and his sons. Then give them as a wave offering to me. 14 That is how I want you to set apart the Levites from the other Israelites. The Levites will belong to me.
15 “Make the Levites pure. Give them to me as a wave offering. Then they must come to do their work at the tent of meeting. 16 They are the Israelites who will be given to me completely. I have taken them to be my own. I have taken them in place of every son born first in his family in Israel. 17 Every male born first in Israel belongs to me. That is true whether it is a human or an animal. In Egypt I struck down all the males born first to their mothers. Then I set apart for myself all the males born first in Israel. 18 And I have taken the Levites in place of all the sons born first in Israel. 19 I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons. I have taken them from among all the Israelites. I have appointed them to do the work at the tent of meeting. They will do it in place of the Israelites. That is how they will keep the Israelites from being guilty when they go near the sacred tent. Then no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the tent.”
20 So Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses. 21 The Levites made themselves pure. They washed their clothes. Then Aaron gave them to the Lord as a wave offering. That’s how he paid for their sin to make them pure. 22 After that, the Levites came to do their work at the tent of meeting. They worked under the direction of Aaron and his sons. And so Moses and Aaron and the whole community of Israel did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
23 The Lord said to Moses, 24 “Here is what the Levites must do. Men 25 years old or more must come and take part in the work at the tent of meeting. 25 But when they reach the age of 50, they must not work any longer. They must stop doing their regular work. 26 They can help their brothers with their duties at the tent of meeting. But they themselves should not do the work. That is how you must direct the Levites to do their work.”
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
44 God, we have heard what you did.
Those who came before us have told us
what you did in their days,
in days long ago.
2 By your power you drove out the nations.
You gave our people homes in the land.
You crushed the people who were there.
And you made our people do well.
3 They didn’t win the land with their swords.
They didn’t gain success by their own power.
Your powerful right hand and your mighty arm gave them victory.
You gave them success because you loved them.
4 You are my King and my God.
You give victories to the people of Jacob.
5 With your help we push back our enemies.
By your power we walk all over them.
6 I put no trust in my bow.
My sword doesn’t bring me victory.
7 But you give us victory over our enemies.
You put them to shame.
8 All day long we talk about how great God is.
We will praise your name forever.
9 But now you have turned your back on us and made us humble.
You don’t march out with our armies anymore.
10 You made us turn and run from our enemies.
They have taken what belongs to us.
11 You handed us over to be eaten up like sheep.
You have scattered us among the nations.
12 You sold your people for very little.
You didn’t gain anything when you sold them.
13 You have made us something that our neighbors laugh at.
Those who live around us make fun of us and tease us.
14 The nations make jokes about us.
They shake their heads at us.
15 All day long I have to live with my shame.
My face is covered with it.
16 That’s because they laugh at me and attack me with their words.
They want to get even with me.
17 All of this happened to us,
even though we had not forgotten you.
We had not broken the covenant you made with us.
18 Our hearts had not turned away from you.
Our feet had not wandered from your path.
19 But you crushed us and left us to the wild dogs.
You covered us over with deep darkness.
20 We didn’t forget our God.
We didn’t spread out our hands in prayer to a false god.
21 If we had, God would have discovered it.
He knows the secrets of our hearts.
22 But because of you, we face death all day long.
We are considered as sheep to be killed.
23 Lord, wake up! Why are you sleeping?
Get up! Don’t say no to us forever.
24 Why do you turn your face away from us?
Why do you forget our pain and troubles?
25 We are brought down to the dust.
Our bodies lie flat on the ground.
26 Rise up and help us.
Save us because of your faithful love.
The other women say
6 “You are the most beautiful woman of all.
Where has the one who loves you gone?
Which way did he turn?
We’ll help you look for him.”
The woman says
2 “My love has gone down to his garden.
He’s gone to the beds of spices.
He’s eating in the gardens.
He’s gathering lilies.
3 I belong to my love, and he belongs to me.
He’s eating among the lilies.”
The king says
4 “My love, you are as beautiful as the city of Tirzah.
You are as lovely as Jerusalem.
You are as majestic as troops carrying their banners.
5 Turn your eyes away from me.
They overpower me.
Your hair flows like a flock of black goats
coming down from the hills of Gilead.
6 Your teeth are as clean as a flock of sheep
coming up from being washed.
Each of your teeth has its twin.
Not one of them is missing.
7 Your cheeks behind your veil
are like the halves of a pomegranate.
8 There might be 60 queens and 80 concubines.
There might be more virgins than anyone can count.
9 But you are my perfect dove.
There isn’t anyone like you.
You are your mother’s favorite daughter.
The young women see you and call you blessed.
The queens and concubines praise you.”
The other women say
10 “Who is this woman?
She is like the sunrise in all its glory.
She is as beautiful as the moon.
She is as bright as the sun.
She is as majestic as the stars traveling across the sky.”
The king says
11 “I went down to a grove of nut trees.
I wanted to look at the new plants growing in the valley.
I wanted to find out whether the vines had budded.
I wanted to see if the pomegranate trees had bloomed.
12 Before I realized it,
I was among the royal chariots of my people.”
The other women say
13 “Come back to us.
Come back, Shulammite woman.
Come back to us.
Come back. Then we can look at you.”
The king says to the women
“Why do you want to look at the Shulammite woman
as you would watch a dancer at Mahanaim?”
6 So let us move beyond the simple teachings about Christ. Let us grow up as believers. Let us not start all over again with the basic teachings. They taught us that we need to turn away from doing things that lead to death. They taught us that we must have faith in God. 2 These basic teachings taught us about different ways of becoming “clean.” They taught us about placing hands of blessing on people. They taught us that people will rise from the dead. They taught us that God will judge everyone. And they taught us that what he decides will last forever. 3 If God permits, we will go beyond those teachings and grow up.
4 What if some people fall away from the faith? It won’t be possible to bring them back. It is true that they have seen the light. They have tasted the heavenly gift. They have shared in the Holy Spirit. 5 They have tasted the good things of God’s word. They have tasted the powers of the age to come. 6 But they have fallen away from the faith. So it won’t be possible to bring them back. They won’t be able to turn away from their sins. They are losing everything. That’s because they are nailing the Son of God to the cross all over again. They are bringing shame on him in front of everyone. 7 Some land drinks the rain that falls on it. It produces a crop that is useful to those who farm the land. That land receives God’s blessing. 8 But other land produces only thorns and weeds. That land isn’t worth anything. It is in danger of coming under God’s curse. In the end, it will be burned.
9 Dear friends, we have to say these things. But we are sure of better things in your case. We are talking about the things that have to do with being saved. 10 God is fair. He will not forget what you have done. He will remember the love you have shown him. You showed it when you helped his people. And you show it when you keep on helping them. 11 We want each of you to be faithful to the very end. If you are, then what you hope for will fully happen. 12 We don’t want you to slow down. Instead, be like those who have faith and are patient. They will receive what God promised.
God Keeps His Promise
13 When God made his promise to Abraham, God gave his word. There was no one greater than himself to promise by. So he promised by making an appeal to himself. 14 He said, “I will certainly bless you. I will give you many children.” (Genesis 22:17) 15 Abraham was patient while he waited. Then he received what God promised him.
16 People promise things by someone greater than themselves. Giving your word makes a promise certain. It puts an end to all arguing. 17 So God gave his word when he made his promise. He wanted to make it very clear that his purpose does not change. He wanted those who would receive what was promised to know this. 18 When God made his promise, he gave his word. He did this so we would have good reason not to give up. Instead, we have run to take hold of the hope set before us. This hope is set before us in God’s promise. So God made his promise and gave his word. These two things can’t change. He couldn’t lie about them. 19 Our hope is certain. It is something for the soul to hold on to. It is strong and secure. It goes all the way into the Most Holy Room behind the curtain. 20 That is where Jesus has gone. He went there to open the way ahead of us. He has become a high priest forever, just like Melchizedek.
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