M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Altar of Incense
30 “You are to make an altar for burning incense. You are to make it of acacia wood. 2 It is to be a square, one cubit[a] long and one cubit[b] wide, and it is to be two cubits[c] high, with its horns of one piece with it. 3 You are to overlay it with pure gold, its top, its sides all around, and its horns, and you are to make a molding of gold all around it.
4 “You are to make two gold rings for it under its molding. You are to make them on its two opposite sides, and they are to be holders for poles by which to carry it. 5 You are to make the poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 6 You are to put the altar[d] in front of the curtain that is over the Ark of the Testimony, in front of the Mercy Seat[e] that is over the Testimony where I’ll meet with you. 7 Aaron is to offer fragrant incense on it. Every morning when he trims the lamps he is to offer it, 8 and when Aaron sets up the lamps at twilight, he is to offer it as a continual incense offering in the Lord’s presence throughout your generations. 9 You are not to offer strange incense, a burnt offering, or a grain offering on it, nor are you to pour out a libation on it. 10 Each year Aaron is to make atonement on its horns with the blood of the sin offering of atonement. He is to make atonement on it each year throughout your generations. It is most holy to the Lord.”
Offerings for the Tent
11 The Lord told Moses, 12 “When you take a census of the Israelis to register them, each is to give a ransom for himself[f] to the Lord when they’re registered so there won’t be a plague among them when they’re registered. 13 This is what everyone who is registered[g] is to give: half a shekel[h] according to the shekel[i] of the sanctuary (the shekel[j] weighs 20 gerahs), half a shekel[k] as a contribution to the Lord. 14 All who are registered, 20 years of age and older, are to give a contribution to the Lord. 15 The rich person is not to give more,[l] nor is the poor person to give less[m] than the half shekel,[n] when you give a contribution to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves.[o] 16 You are to take the atonement money from the Israelis and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, and it is to be a memorial for the Israelis in the Lord’s presence to make atonement for yourselves.”[p]
The Bronze Basin
17 The Lord told Moses, 18 “You are to make a bronze basin with a bronze base for washing. You are to pace it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, put water in it,[q] 19 and Aaron and his sons are to wash their hands and their feet from it. 20 When they enter the Tent of Meeting or when they approach the altar to minister to make an offering by fire to the Lord, they are to wash with water so they don’t die. 21 They are to wash their hands and their feet so that they don’t die, and it is to be for them a perpetual ordinance for Aaron[r] and his seed from generation to generation.”
The Anointing Oil
22 The Lord told Moses, 23 “You are to take for yourself the finest spices: 500 shekels[s]by weight of liquid myrrh, half as much fragrant cinnamon (250 shekels), 250 shekels of fragrant reeds, 24 500 shekels of cassia—all according to the shekel of the sanctuary—and a hin[t] of olive oil. 25 You are to make them into a holy anointing oil, a perfume mixture made by a perfumer. It is to be a holy anointing oil. 26 You are to use it to anoint the Tent of Meeting, the Ark of the Testimony, 27 the table and all its utensils, the lamp stand and its utensils, the altar of incense, 28 the altar for burnt offerings and all its utensils, and the basin and its base. 29 You are to consecrate them and they are to be most holy. Whatever touches them is to be holy. 30 You are to anoint Aaron and his sons, and you are to consecrate them to serve as my priests. 31 You are to address the Israelis and tell them, ‘This is to be holy anointing oil for me from generation to generation. 32 It is not to be poured out on a person’s body,[u] nor are you to make anything like it with similar formulations. It is holy, and it is to be holy to you. 33 Anyone who mixes anything like it or who puts any of it on an unqualified person[v] is to be cut off from his people.’”
The Incense
34 The Lord told Moses, “Take for yourself spices: stacte, onycha, galbanum, and spices with pure frankincense, all in equal amounts. 35 You are to make it into a fragrant incense, expertly[w] blended,[x] pure, and holy. 36 You are to grind some of it fine, and put some before the Testimony in the Tent of Meeting where I will meet with you. It is to be most holy to you. 37 You are not to make the incense that you make in this formulation for your own use. It is to be holy to the Lord for you. 38 Anyone who makes anything like it to use it as perfume is to be cut off from his people.”
Jesus Heals a Blind Man
9 As he was walking along, he observed a man who had been blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, “Rabbi,[a] who sinned, this man or his parents, that caused him to be born blind?”
3 Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned. This happened so that[b] God’s work might be revealed in him. 4 I[c] must do the work of the one who sent me[d] while it is day. Night is approaching, when no one can work. 5 As long as I’m in the world, I’m the light of the world.” 6 After saying this, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he spread the mud on the man’s eyes 7 and told him, “Go and wash in the pool of Siloam” (which is translated “Sent One”). So he went off, washed, and came back seeing.
8 Then the neighbors and those who had previously seen him as a beggar said, “This is the man who used to sit and beg, isn’t it?”
9 Some were saying, “It’s him,” while others were saying, “No, but it’s someone like him.”
But he himself kept saying, “It’s me!”
10 So they asked him, “How, then, did you gain your eyesight?”
11 He said, “The man named Jesus made some mud, spread it on my eyes, and told me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So off I went and washed, and I received my sight.”
12 They asked him, “Where is that man?”
He said, “I don’t know!”
The Pharisees Investigate the Healing
13 So they brought to the Pharisees the man who had once been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and healed[e] his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had gained his sight. He told them, “He put mud on my eyes, then I washed, and now I can see.”
16 Some of the Pharisees began to remark, “This man is not from God because he does not keep the Sabbath.”
But others were saying, “How can a sinful man perform such signs?” And there was a division among them.
17 So they asked the formerly[f] blind man again, “What do you say about him, since it was your eyes he healed?”[g]
He said, “He is a prophet.”
18 The Jewish leaders[h] did not believe that the man[i] had been blind and had gained sight until they summoned his parents[j] 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, the one you say was born blind? How does he now see?”
20 His parents replied, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But we don’t know how it is that he now sees, and we don’t know who opened his eyes. Ask him. He is of age and can speak for himself.” 22 His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders,[k] since the Jewish leaders[l] had already agreed that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus[m] was the Messiah[n] would be thrown out of the synagogue. 23 That’s why his parents said, “He is of age. Ask him.”
24 The Jewish leaders[o] summoned the man who had been blind a second time and told him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.”
25 But he responded, “I don’t know whether he is a sinner or not. The one thing I do know is that I used to be blind and now I can see!”
26 Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he heal[p] your eyes?”
27 He answered them, “I’ve already told you, but you didn’t listen. Why do you want to hear it again? You don’t want to become his disciples, too, do you?”
28 At this, they turned on him in fury and said, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses! 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but we do not know where this fellow comes from.”
30 The man answered them, “This is an amazing thing! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he healed[q] my eyes. 31 We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he does listen to anyone who worships him and does his will. 32 Ever since creation it has never been heard that anyone healed[r] the eyes of a man who was born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he couldn’t do anything like that.”
34 They asked him, “You were born a sinner[s] and you are trying to instruct us?” And they threw him out.
Spiritual Blindness
35 Jesus heard that they had thrown him out. So when he found him, he asked him, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?”[t]
36 He answered, “And who is he, sir?[u] Tell me,[v] so that I may believe in him.”
37 Jesus told him, “You have seen him. He is the person who is talking with you.”
38 He said, “Lord, I do believe,” and worshipped him.
39 Then Jesus said, “I have come into this world to judge it, so that those who are blind may see and so that those who see may become blind.”
40 Some of the Pharisees who were near him overheard this and asked him, “We aren’t blind, too, are we?”
41 Jesus told them, “If you were blind, you would not have any sin. But now that you insist, ‘We see,’ your sin still exists.”
The Folly of Guaranteeing Loans
6 My son, if you guarantee a loan for your neighbor,
if you have agreed to a deal[a] with a stranger,
2 trapped by your own words,
and caught by your own words,
3 then do this, my son, and deliver yourself,
because you have come under your neighbor’s control.[b]
Go, humble yourself!
Plead passionately with your neighbor!
4 Don’t allow yourself to sleep
or even to close your eyes.
5 Deliver yourself like a gazelle from a hunter’s hand,[c]
or like a bird from a fowler’s hand.
The Folly of Laziness
6 Go to the ant, you lazy man!
Observe its ways and become wise.
7 It has no commander,
officer, or ruler,
8 but prepares its provisions in the summer
and gathers its food in the harvest.
9 How long will you lie down, lazy man?
When will you get up from your sleep?
10 A little sleep, a little slumber,
a little folding of the hands to rest,
11 and your poverty will come on you like a bandit
and your desperation like an armed man.
The Folly of Causing Strife
12 A worthless man, a wicked man,
goes around with devious speech,
13 winking with his eyes, making signs[d] with[e] his feet,
pointing with his fingers,
14 planning evil with a perverse mind,[f]
continually stirring up discord.
15 Therefore, disaster will overtake him suddenly.
He will be broken in an instant,
and he will never recover.
What God Hates
16 Here are six things that the Lord hates—
seven, in fact,[g] are detestable to him:[h]
17 Arrogant eyes,
a lying tongue,
and hands shedding innocent blood;
18 a heart crafting evil plans,
feet running swiftly to wickedness,
19 a false witness snorting lies,
and someone sowing quarrels between brothers.
Parental Counsel about Immorality
20 Keep your father’s commands, my son,
and never forsake your mother’s rules,[i]
21 by binding them to your heart continuously,
fastening them around your neck.
22 During your travels wisdom[j] will lead you;
she will watch over you while you rest;
and when you are startled from your sleep,
she will commune with you.
23 Because the command is a lamp
and the Law a light,
rebukes that discipline are a way of life—
24 to protect you from the evil[k] woman,
from the words of the seductive woman.
25 Do not focus on her beauty in your mind,
nor allow her to take you prisoner with her flirting eyes,
26 because the price of a whore is a loaf of bread,
and an adulterous woman stalks a man’s precious life.
27 Can a man scoop fire into his bosom
without burning his clothes?
28 Can a man walk on hot coals
without scorching his feet?
29 So also is it with someone who has sex with his neighbor’s wife;
anyone touching her will not remain unpunished.
30 A thief isn’t despised
if he steals to meet his needs[l] when he is hungry,
31 but when he is discovered,
he must restore seven-fold,
forfeiting the entire value of his house.
32 Whoever commits adultery with a woman is out of his mind;
by doing so he corrupts his own soul.
33 He will receive a beating and dishonor,
and his shame won’t disappear,
34 because jealousy incites[m] a strong man’s rage,
and he will show no mercy when it’s time for revenge.
35 He will not consider any payment,
nor will he be willing to accept it,[n]
no matter how large the bribe.
Live in the Freedom that the Messiah Provides
5 The Messiah[a] has set us free so that we may enjoy the benefits of freedom.[b] So keep on standing firm in it, and stop putting yourselves under the yoke of slavery again. 2 Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that if you allow yourselves to be circumcised, the Messiah[c] will be of no benefit to you. 3 Again, I insist[d] that everyone who allows himself to be circumcised is obligated to obey the entire Law. 4 Those of you who are trying to be justified by the Law have been cut off from the Messiah.[e] You have fallen away from grace.
5 Through the Spirit by faith we confidently await the fulfillment of our righteous hope, 6 for in union with the Messiah[f] Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters. What matters is faith[g] expressed through love.
7 You were running the race beautifully. Who cut in on you and stopped you from obeying the truth? 8 Such influence does not come from the one who calls you. 9 A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough. 10 I am confident[h] in the Lord that you will take no other view of this. However, the one who is troubling you will suffer God’s[i] judgment, whoever he is. 11 As for me, brothers, if I am still preaching the necessity of[j] circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. 12 I wish that those who are upsetting you would castrate themselves!
13 For you, brothers, were called to freedom. Only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity to gratify your flesh, but through love make it your habit to serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is summarized in a single statement: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”[k] 15 But if you bite and devour one another, be careful that you are not destroyed by each other. 16 So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will never fulfill the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh wants is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit wants is opposed to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, and so you do not do what you want to do. 18 But if you are being led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.
19 Now the actions of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, promiscuity, 20 idolatry, witchcraft,[l] hatred, rivalry, jealously, outbursts of anger, quarrels, conflicts, factions, 21 envy, murder,[m] drunkenness, wild partying, and things like that. I am telling you now, as I have told you in the past, that people who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,[n] 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things. 24 Now those who belong to the Messiah[o] Jesus have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also be guided. 26 Let’s stop being arrogant, provoking one another and envying one another.
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