M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Rules About Sacrifices
15 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘You will enter a land that I am giving you as a home. 3 There give the Lord offerings made by fire. These may be from your herds or flocks. And the smell will be pleasing to the Lord. These offerings may be burnt offerings or sacrifices for special promises. They may be offerings which are gifts to the Lord. Or they may be festival offerings. 4 And the one who brings his offering shall also give the Lord a grain offering. It should be two quarts of fine flour mixed with one quart of olive oil. 5 Each time you offer a lamb as a burnt offering or sacrifice, also prepare a quart of wine. This is a drink offering.
6 “‘If you are giving a male sheep, also prepare a grain offering. It should be four quarts of fine flour mixed with one and one-fourth quarts of olive oil. 7 Also prepare one and one-fourth quarts of wine. This is a drink offering. Offer it to the Lord. Its smell is pleasing to him.
8 “‘You might prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or sacrifice. This might be for a fellowship offering or for a special promise to the Lord. 9 Bring a grain offering with the bull. It should be six quarts of fine flour mixed with two quarts of olive oil. 10 Also bring two quarts of wine as a drink offering. This offering is made by fire. And its smell will be pleasing to the Lord. 11 Prepare each bull or male sheep, lamb or young goat this way. 12 Do this for every one of the animals you bring.
13 “‘All citizens must do these things in this way. And the smell of their offerings by fire will be pleasing to the Lord. 14 From now on foreigners will live among you. They will make offerings by fire so the smell will be pleasing to the Lord. They must offer them the same way you do. 15 The law is the same for you and for foreigners. It will be a law from now on. You and the foreigners are alike before the Lord. 16 The teachings and rules are the same for you and for the foreigners among you.’”
17 The Lord said to Moses, 18 “Tell the Israelites: ‘You are going to another land. I am taking you there. 19 When you eat the food there, offer part of it to the Lord. 20 Offer a loaf of bread from the first of your grain. That will be your offering from the threshing floor. 21 From now on offer to the Lord the first part of your grain.
22 “‘Now what if you forget to obey any of these commands the Lord gave Moses? 23 These are the Lord’s commands given to you through Moses. They began the day the Lord gave them to you. And they will continue from now on. 24 But you might forget to obey one of these commands. The people might not remember the command. Then all the people must offer a young bull as a burnt offering. Its smell is pleasing to the Lord. By law you must also give the grain offering and the drink offering with it. And you must bring a male goat as a sin offering.
25 “‘The priest will remove that sin for all the Israelites so they will belong to God. They are forgiven. They didn’t know they were sinning. For the wrong they did they brought offerings to the Lord. They brought an offering by fire and a sin offering. 26 All of the people of Israel and the foreigners living among them will be forgiven. No one meant to do wrong.
27 “‘Just one person might sin without meaning to. He must bring a year-old female goat for a sin offering. 28 The priest will remove the sin of the person who sinned without meaning to. That person will belong to the Lord again. He will be forgiven. 29 The same teaching is for everyone who sins without meaning to. It is the same for those born Israelites and for foreigners living among you.
30 “‘But anyone who sins on purpose is against the Lord. That person must be separated from his people. It is the same for someone born among you or a foreigner. 31 That person has turned against the Lord’s word. He has not obeyed the Lord’s commands. He must surely be separated from the others. He is guilty.’”
A Man Worked on the Sabbath
32 This happened when the Israelites were still in the desert. They found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day. 33 Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses and Aaron and all the people. 34 They held the man under guard. They did not know what to do with him. 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man must die. All the people must kill him with stones outside the camp.” 36 So the people took him outside the camp. They killed him with stones as the Lord commanded Moses.
The Tassels
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites. Tell them this: ‘Tie several pieces of thread together. And tie them to the corners of your clothes. Put a blue thread in each one of these tassels. Wear them from now on. 39 You will have these tassels to look at. They will remind you of the Lord’s commands. Then you will obey them. And you won’t follow what your bodies want and what your eyes wish for. 40 Remember to obey all my commands. Then you will be God’s holy people. 41 I am the Lord your God. I brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord your God.’”
A Prayer for Forgiveness
For the director of music. A song of David when the prophet Nathan came to David after David’s sin with Bathsheba.
51 God, be merciful to me
because you are loving.
Because you are always ready to be merciful,
wipe out all my wrongs.
2 Wash away all my guilt
and make me clean again.
3 I know about my wrongs.
I can’t forget my sin.
4 You are the one I have sinned against.
I have done what you say is wrong.
So you are right when you speak.
You are fair when you judge me.
5 I was brought into this world in sin.
In sin my mother gave birth to me.
6 You want me to be completely truthful.
So teach me wisdom.
7 Take away my sin, and I will be clean.
Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
8 Make me hear sounds of joy and gladness.
Let the bones you crushed be happy again.
9 Turn your face from my sins.
Wipe out all my guilt.
10 Create in me a pure heart, God.
Make my spirit right again.
11 Do not send me away from you.
Do not take your Holy Spirit away from me.
12 Give me back the joy that comes when you save me.
Keep me strong by giving me a willing spirit.
13 Then I will teach your ways to those who do wrong.
And sinners will turn back to you.
14 God, save me from the guilt of murder.
God, you are the one who saves me.
I will sing about your goodness.
15 Lord, let me speak
so I may praise you.
16 You are not pleased by sacrifices.
Otherwise, I would give them.
You don’t want burnt offerings.
17 The sacrifice God wants is a willing spirit.
God, you will not reject
a heart that is broken and sorry for its sin.
18 Do whatever good you wish for Jerusalem.
Rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
19 Then you will be pleased with right sacrifices and whole burnt offerings.
And bulls will be offered on your altar.
Israel, God’s Special Field
5 Now I will sing a song to my friend. This song is about his vineyard.
My friend had a vineyard
on a hill with very rich soil.
2 He dug and cleared the field of stones.
He planted the best grapevines there.
And he built a tower in the middle of it.
He cut out a winepress as well.
He hoped good grapes would grow there.
But only bad grapes grew.
3 My friend says, “You people living in Jerusalem,
and you men of Judah,
judge between me and my vineyard.
4 What more could I have done for my vineyard?
I did everything I could.
I hoped for good grapes to grow.
But why were there only bad grapes?
5 Now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard:
I will remove the hedge,
and it will be burned.
I will break down the stone wall,
and it will be walked on.
6 I will ruin my field.
It will not be trimmed or hoed.
Weeds and thorns will grow there.
I will command the clouds
not to rain on it.”
7 The vineyard belonging to the Lord of heaven’s armies
is the nation of Israel.
The garden that the Lord loves
is the men of Judah.
The Lord looked for justice, but there was only killing.
The Lord hoped for right living, but there were only cries of pain.
8 How terrible it will be for you who add more houses to your houses
and more fields to your fields.
Finally there is no room left for other people.
Then you are left alone in the land.
9 The Lord of heaven’s armies said this to me:
“The fine houses will be destroyed.
The large and beautiful houses will be left empty.
10 At that time a ten-acre vineyard will make only six gallons of wine.
And ten bushels of seed will grow only half a bushel of grain.”
11 How terrible it will be for people who rise early in the morning
to look for strong drink.
They stay awake late at night,
becoming drunk with wine.
12 At their parties they have lyres, harps,
tambourines, flutes and wine.
They don’t see what the Lord has done.
They don’t notice the work of his hands.
13 So my people will be captured and taken away
because they don’t really know me.
All the great men will die of hunger.
The common people will die of thirst.
14 So the place where the dead are wants more and more people.
It opens its mouth wide.
Jerusalem’s important men will go down into it.
And the common people will go down into it.
15 So the common people and the great people will be humbled.
Those who are proud will be humbled.
16 The Lord of heaven’s armies will receive glory by judging fairly.
The holy God will show himself holy by doing what is right.
17 Then the sheep will go anywhere they want.
Lambs will feed on the land that rich people once owned.
18 How terrible it will be for those people!
They pull their guilt and sins behind them
as people pull wagons with ropes.
19 They say, “Let’s see God hurry.
Let’s see him do his work soon.
We want to see it.
Let’s see the plan of the Holy One of Israel happen soon.
Then we would know what it really is.”
20 How terrible it will be for people who call good things bad
and bad things good.
They think darkness is light
and light is darkness.
They think sour is sweet
and sweet is sour.
21 How terrible it will be for people who think they are wise.
They think they are clever.
22 How terrible it will be for people who are famous for drinking wine.
They are champions at mixing drinks.
23 They take money to set the guilty free.
But they don’t allow good people to be judged fairly.
24 They will be destroyed
just as fire burns straw or dry grass.
They will be destroyed
like a plant whose roots rot
and whose flower dies and blows away like dust.
They have refused to obey the teachings of the Lord of heaven’s armies.
They hated the message from the Holy God of Israel.
25 So the Lord has become very angry with his people.
And he has raised his hand to punish them.
Even the mountains are frightened.
Dead bodies lie in the streets like garbage.
But the Lord is still angry.
His hand is still raised to strike down the people.
26 God raises a banner for the nations far away.
He is whistling to call those people.
The enemy comes quickly!
27 Not one of them becomes tired or falls down.
Not one of them gets sleepy and falls asleep.
Their weapons are close at hand.
Their sandal straps are not broken.
28 Their arrows are sharp.
All of their bows are ready to shoot.
The horses’ hooves are hard as rock.
Their chariot wheels move like a whirlwind.
29 Their shout is like the roar of a lion.
It is loud like a young lion.
The enemy growls as they grab their captives.
There is no one to stop them from taking their captives away.
30 On that day they will roar
like the waves of the sea.
And when people look at the land,
they will see only darkness and pain.
All light will become dark in this thick cloud.
Follow Jesus’ Example
12 So we have many people of faith around us. Their lives tell us what faith means. So let us run the race that is before us and never give up. We should remove from our lives anything that would get in the way. And we should remove the sin that so easily catches us. 2 Let us look only to Jesus. He is the one who began our faith, and he makes our faith perfect. Jesus suffered death on the cross. But he accepted the shame of the cross as if it were nothing. He did this because of the joy that God put before him. And now he is sitting at the right side of God’s throne. 3 Think about Jesus. He held on patiently while sinful men were doing evil things against him. Look at Jesus’ example so that you will not get tired and stop trying.
God Is Like a Father
4 You are struggling against sin, but your struggles have not yet caused you to be killed. 5 You have forgotten his encouraging words for his sons:
“My son, don’t think the Lord’s discipline of you is worth nothing.
And don’t stop trying when the Lord corrects you.
6 The Lord corrects those he loves.
And he punishes everyone he accepts as his child.” Proverbs 3:11-12
7 So accept your sufferings as if they were a father’s punishment. God does these things to you as a father punishing his sons. All sons are punished by their fathers. 8 If you are never punished (and every son must be punished), you are not true children and not really sons. 9 We have all had fathers here on earth who punished us. And we respected our fathers. So it is even more important that we accept punishment from the Father of our spirits. If we do this, we will have life. 10 Our fathers on earth punished us for a short time. They punished us the way they thought was best. But God punishes us to help us, so that we can become holy as he is. 11 We do not enjoy punishment. Being punished is painful at the time. But later, after we have learned from being punished, we have peace, because we start living in the right way.
Be Careful How You Live
12 You have become weak. So make yourselves strong again. 13 Keep on the right path so the weak will not stumble but rather be strengthened.
14 Try to live in peace with all people. And try to live lives free from sin. If anyone’s life is not holy, he will never see the Lord. 15 Be careful that no one fails to get God’s grace. Be careful that no one becomes like a bitter weed growing among you. A person like that can ruin all of you. 16 Be careful that no one takes part in sexual sin. And be careful that no person is unholy like Esau. He sold all his rights as the oldest son for a single meal. 17 You remember that after Esau did this, he wanted to get his father’s blessing. He wanted this blessing so much that he cried. But his father refused to give him the blessing, because Esau could find no way to change what he had done.
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire. You have not come to darkness, sadness and storms. 19 You have not come to the noise of a trumpet or to the sound of a voice. When the people of Israel heard the voice, they begged not to have to hear another word. 20 They did not want to hear the command: “If anything, even an animal, touches the mountain, it must be put to death with stones.”[a] 21 What they saw was so terrible that Moses said, “I am shaking with fear.”[b]
22 But you have not come to that kind of place. The new place you have come to is Mount Zion.[c] You have come to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands of angels gathered together with joy. 23 You have come to the meeting of God’s firstborn[d] children. Their names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all people. And you have come to the spirits of good people who have been made perfect. 24 You have come to Jesus, the One who brought the new agreement from God to his people. You have come to the sprinkled blood[e] that has a better message than the blood of Abel.[f]
25 So be careful and do not refuse to listen when God speaks. They refused to listen to him when he warned them on earth. And they did not escape. Now God is warning us from heaven. So it will be worse for us if we refuse to listen to him. 26 When he spoke before, his voice shook the earth. But now he has promised, “Once again I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.”[g] 27 The words “once again” clearly show us that everything that was made will be destroyed. These are the things that can be shaken. And only the things that cannot be shaken will remain.
28 So let us be thankful because we have a kingdom that cannot be shaken. We should worship God in a way that pleases him. So let us worship him with respect and fear, 29 because our God is like a fire that burns things up.
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.