M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Miriam and Aaron Criticize Moses
12 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses. They criticized him because he married an Ethiopian[a] woman. 2 They said to themselves, “Moses is not the only one the Lord has used to speak to the people. He has also spoken through us!”
The Lord heard this. 3 (Moses was a very humble man. He was more humble than any other man on earth.) 4 So suddenly, the Lord came and spoke to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. He said, “You three, come to the Meeting Tent, now!”
So Moses, Aaron, and Miriam went to the Tent. 5 The Lord came down in the tall cloud and stood at the entrance to the Tent. He called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” They went to him. 6 God said, “Listen to me! You will have prophets. I, the Lord, will let them learn about me through visions. I will speak to them in dreams. 7 But Moses is not like that. He is my faithful servant—I trust him with everyone in my house. 8 When I speak to him, I talk face to face with him. I don’t use stories with hidden meanings—I show him clearly what I want him to know. And Moses can look at the very image of the Lord. So why were you brave enough to speak against my servant Moses?”
9 The Lord was very angry with them, and he left them. 10 The cloud rose from the Tent. Aaron turned and looked at Miriam. Her skin was white like snow—she had a terrible skin disease!
11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Please, sir, forgive us for the foolish sin that we did. 12 Don’t let her lose her skin like a baby who is born dead.” (Sometimes a baby will be born like that, with half of its skin eaten away.)
13 So Moses prayed to the Lord, “God, please heal her from this sickness!”
14 The Lord answered Moses, “If her father spit in her face, she would be shamed for seven days. So put her outside the camp for seven days. After that she can come back into the camp.”
15 So they took Miriam outside the camp for seven days. And the people did not move from that place until she was brought in again. 16 After that the people left Hazeroth and traveled to the desert of Paran where they set up camp.
The Spies Go to Canaan
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send some men to explore the land of Canaan. I will give this land to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve tribes.”
3 So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command and sent out the Israelite leaders while the people were camped in the desert of Paran. 4 These are their names:
from the tribe of Reuben—Shammua son of Zaccur;
5 from the tribe of Simeon—Shaphat son of Hori;
6 from the tribe of Judah—Caleb son of Jephunneh;
7 from the tribe of Issachar—Igal son of Joseph;
8 from the tribe of Ephraim—Hoshea[b] son of Nun;
9 from the tribe of Benjamin—Palti son of Raphu;
10 from the tribe of Zebulun—Gaddiel son of Sodi;
11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe from Joseph)—Gaddi son of Susi;
12 from the tribe of Dan—Ammiel son of Gemalli;
13 from the tribe of Asher—Sethur son of Michael;
14 from the tribe of Naphtali—Nahbi son of Vophsi;
15 from the tribe of Gad—Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to look at and study the land. (Moses called Hoshea son of Nun by another name. Moses called him Joshua.)
17 When Moses was sending them out to explore Canaan, he said, “Go through the Negev and then into the hill country. 18 See what the land looks like. Learn about the people who live there. Are they strong or are they weak? Are they few or are they many? 19 Learn about the land that they live in. Is it good land or bad land? What kind of towns do they live in? Do the towns have walls protecting them? Are the towns strongly defended? 20 And learn other things about the land. Is the soil good for growing things, or is it poor soil? Are there trees on the land? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (This was during the time when the first grapes should be ripe.)
21 So they went to explore the country. They explored the area from the desert of Zin to Rehob and Lebo Hamath. 22 They entered the country through the Negev and went to Hebron. (The town of Hebron was built seven years before the town of Zoan in Egypt.) Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai lived there. These men were descendants of Anak. 23 Then the men went to Eshcol Valley. There they cut off a branch from a grapevine that had a bunch of grapes on it. They put that branch on a pole, and two men carried it between them. They also carried some pomegranates and figs. 24 That place is called the Eshcol[c] Valley, because there the men of Israel cut off the bunch of grapes.
25 The men explored that country for 40 days, and then they went back to the camp. 26 The Israelites were camped near Kadesh, in the desert of Paran. The men went to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites. They told Moses, Aaron, and all the people what they saw and showed them the fruit from the land. 27 The men told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is a land filled with many good things[d]! Here is some of the fruit that grows there. 28 But the people living there are very powerful. The cities are very large and strongly defended. We even saw some Anakites there. 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev. The Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live near the sea and by the Jordan River.”
30 Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet. Then Caleb said, “We should go up and take that land for ourselves. We can easily take that land.”
31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We cannot fight those people! They are much stronger than we are.” 32 So those men gave a report that discouraged the people. They said, “The land we saw is full of strong people. They are strong enough to easily defeat anyone who goes there. 33 We saw the giant Nephilim people there! (The descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim.) We felt like little grasshoppers. Yes, we were like grasshoppers to them!”
To the director: A song from the Korah family.
49 Listen to this, all you nations.
Pay attention, all you people on earth.
2 Everyone, rich and poor, listen to me.
3 I have some very wise words for you.
My thoughts will give you understanding.
4 I listened to these sayings.
And now, with my harp, I will sing and make the hidden meaning clear.
5 Why should I be afraid when trouble comes?
There is no need to fear when evil enemies surround me.
6 They think their wealth will protect them.
They brag about how rich they are.
7 But no one has enough to buy back a life,
and you cannot bribe[a] God.
8 You will never get enough money
to pay for your own life.
9 You will never have enough
to buy the right to live forever
and keep your body out of the grave.
10 Look, the wise die the same as fools and stupid people.[b]
They die and leave their wealth to others.
11 The grave will be their new home forever.
And how much land they owned will not make any difference.
12 People might be wealthy, but they cannot stay here forever.
They will die like the animals.
13 That is what happens to all who trust in themselves
and to anyone who accepts their way of life. Selah
14 They are just like sheep, but the grave will be their pen.
Death will be their shepherd.
When morning comes, the good people will enjoy victory,
as the bodies of the proud slowly rot in the grave,
far away from their fancy houses.
15 But God will pay the price to save me from the grave.
He will take me to be with him. Selah
16 Don’t be afraid of people just because they are rich.
Don’t be afraid of people just because they have big, fancy houses.
17 They will not take anything with them when they die.
They will not take their wealth with them.
18 A wealthy man might tell himself how well he has done in life.
And other people might praise him.
19 But the time will come for him to die and go to his ancestors.
And he will never again see the light of day.
20 Wealthy people don’t seem to understand
that they will die like the animals.
God’s Message to Judah and Jerusalem
2 Isaiah son of Amoz received this message about Judah and Jerusalem.
2 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s Temple
will be the highest of all mountains.
It will be raised higher than the hills.
There will be a steady stream of people from all nations going there.
3 People from many places will go there and say,
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the Temple of the God of Jacob.
Then God will teach us his way of living,
and we will follow him.”
His teaching, the Lord’s message, will begin in Jerusalem on Mount Zion
and will go out to all the world.
4 Then God will act as judge to end arguments between nations.
He will decide what is right for people from many lands.
They will stop using their weapons for war.
They will hammer their swords into plows
and use their spears to make tools for harvesting.
All fighting between nations will end.
They will never again train for war.
5 Family of Jacob, let us follow the Lord.
6 Family of Jacob, you have abandoned your people. This is clear because they have been filled with bad influences from the East,[a] and now your people try to tell the future like the Philistines. They have completely accepted those strange ideas. 7 Jacob’s land has been filled with silver and gold from other places. There are many treasures there. His land has been filled with horses and many chariots. 8 His land is full of gods that the people bow down to worship. They made those idols themselves. 9 The people have become worse and worse. They have become very low, and you leaders did nothing to lift them up![b]
10 You should be afraid of the Lord! Go hide in the dirt and behind the rocks. Hide from his glorious power!
11 Proud people will stop being proud. They will bow down to the ground with shame, and only the Lord will still stand high.
12 The Lord All-Powerful has a special day planned when he will punish the proud and boastful people. They will be brought down. 13 They might be like the tall cedar trees from Lebanon or the great oak trees from Bashan, but they will be cut down. 14 They might be like the tall mountains and high hills 15 or like the tall towers and high walls, but they will be brought down. 16 They might be like great ships from Tarshish,[c] filled with such wonderful cargo, but they will be brought down.
17 At that time those proud people will fall. They will bow low to the ground, and only the Lord will stand high. 18 All the idols will be gone. 19 People will go into the holes in the ground and the cracks in the rocks because they fear the Lord and his great power as he stands to shake the earth.
20 At that time people will throw away their idols they made from gold and silver. They made these statues to worship, but they will throw them into holes in the ground where bats and moles live. 21 They will go down into cracks in the rocks and boulders because they are afraid of the Lord and his glorious power as he stands to shake the earth.
22 Stop trusting other people to save you. Do not think too highly of them; they are only humans who have not stopped breathing yet.
Jesus Christ—the Only Sacrifice We Need
10 The law gave us only an unclear picture of the good things coming in the future. The law is not a perfect picture of the real things. The law tells people to offer the same sacrifices every year. Those who come to worship God continue to offer those sacrifices. But the law can never make them perfect. 2 If the law could make people perfect, those sacrifices would have already stopped. They would already be clean from their sins, and they would not still feel guilty. 3 But that’s not what happens. Their sacrifices make them remember their sins every year, 4 because it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
5 So when Christ came into the world he said,
“You don’t want sacrifices and offerings,
but you have prepared a body for me.
6 You are not pleased with the sacrifices of animals killed and burned
or with offerings to take away sins.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am, God.
It is written about me in the book of the law.
I have come to do what you want.’” (A)
8 Christ first said, “You don’t want sacrifices and offerings. You are not pleased with animals killed and burned or with sacrifices to take away sin.” (These are all sacrifices that the law commands.) 9 Then he said, “Here I am, God. I have come to do what you want.” So God ends that first system of sacrifices and starts his new way. 10 Jesus Christ did the things God wanted him to do. And because of that, we are made holy through the sacrifice of Christ’s body. Christ made that sacrifice one time—enough for all time.
11 Every day the priests stand and do their religious service. Again and again they offer the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But Christ offered only one sacrifice for sins, and that sacrifice is good for all time. Then he sat down at the right side of God. 13 And now Christ waits there for his enemies to be put under his power.[a] 14 With one sacrifice Christ made his people perfect forever. They are the ones who are being made holy.
15 The Holy Spirit also tells us about this. First he says,
16 “This is the agreement[b] I will make
with my people in the future, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts.
I will write my laws in their minds.” (B)
17 Then he says,
“I will forget their sins
and never again remember the evil they have done.” (C)
18 And after everything is forgiven, there is no more need for a sacrifice to pay for sins.
Come Near to God
19 And so, brothers and sisters, we are completely free to enter the Most Holy Place.[c] We can do this without fear because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus. 20 We enter through a new way that Jesus opened for us. It is a living way that leads through the curtain—Christ’s body. 21 And we have a great priest who rules the house of God. 22 Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ. 23 We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised.
Help Each Other Be Strong
24 We should think about each other to see how we can encourage each other to show love and do good works. 25 We must not quit meeting together, as some are doing. No, we need to keep on encouraging each other. This becomes more and more important as you see the Day getting closer.
Don’t Turn Away From God’s Son
26 If we decide to continue sinning after we have learned the truth, then there is no other sacrifice that will take away sins. 27 If we continue sinning, all that is left for us is a fearful time of waiting for the judgment and the angry fire that will destroy those who live against God. 28 Whoever refused to obey the Law of Moses was found guilty from the testimony given by two or three witnesses. Such people were not forgiven. They were killed. 29 So think how much more punishment people deserve who show their hate for the Son of God—people who show they have no respect for the blood sacrifice that began the new agreement and once made them holy or who insult the Spirit of God’s grace. 30 We know that God said, “I will punish people for the wrongs they do; I will repay them.”[d] And he also said, “The Lord will judge his people.”[e] 31 It is a terrible thing to face punishment from the living God.
Keep the Courage and Patience You Had
32 Remember the days when you first learned the truth. You had a hard struggle with much suffering, but you continued strong. 33 Sometimes people said hateful things to you and mistreated you in public. And sometimes you helped others who were being treated that same way. 34 Yes, you helped them in prison and shared in their suffering. And you were still happy when everything you owned was taken away from you. You continued to be happy, because you knew that you had something much better—something that would continue forever.
35 So don’t lose the courage that you had in the past. Your courage will be rewarded richly. 36 You must be patient. After you have done what God wants, you will get what he promised you. 37 He says,
“Very soon now, the one who is coming
will come and will not be late.
38 The person who is right with me
will live by trusting in me.
But I will not be pleased with the one
who turns back in fear.” (D)
39 But we are not those who turn back and are lost. No, we are the people who have faith and are saved.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International