M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Eating Holy Food

22 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Tell Aaron and his sons to be very careful with the holy things of the people of Israel, which they consecrate to me, so that they may not defile my holy name. I am the Lord. ³ Tell them these things.”

In future generations, if any man among all your descendants, while he is in a state of uncleanness, approaches the holy things, which the Israelites consecrate to the Lord, that person is to be cut off from my presence. I am the Lord.

⁴ Any man of Aaron’s descendants who has an impure skin disease or a bodily discharge shall not eat any of the holy things until he is clean.

Any man who touches anything made unclean by a dead person, or any man from whom an emission of semen goes out, ⁵ or any man who touches any swarming creature that makes him unclean, or who touches any human being who makes him unclean, whatever his uncleanness might be— ⁶ that person who touches any of these things will be unclean until sunset and shall not eat any of the holy things unless he has washed his body with water. ⁷ When the sun has gone down, he will be clean. After that he may eat from the holy things, for it is his food. ⁸ But he shall not eat anything that has died naturally or been torn by wild animals, and so become unclean by it. I am the Lord.

⁹ Aaron’s descendants shall therefore keep watch for me, so that they do not become responsible for sin on account of uncleanness and die for it because they have defiled something holy. I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.

¹⁰ No person who is not a member of a priest’s family may eat anything holy. No guest or employee of a priest may eat anything holy. ¹¹ But if a priest purchases anyone with his money, that person may eat from it, and those who are born into his household may eat from his food. ¹² If a priest’s daughter has a husband who is not a priest, she may not eat any of the holy things that have been donated as an elevated offering. ¹³ But if a priest’s daughter is widowed or divorced and she has no children and returns to her father’s house as in her youth, she may eat of her father’s food. No person who is not a member of a priest’s family may eat of it.

¹⁴ If anyone eats a holy thing unintentionally, he shall add one fifth of its value to it and give the holy thing to the priest.

¹⁵ The priests shall not defile the holy things that the Israelites donate as an elevated offering to the Lord ¹⁶ by letting other people eat them and so make that person incur the penalty of a restitution offering for the holy things, because I am the Lord, who sets them apart as holy.

Acceptable Offerings for the Israelites

¹⁷ The Lord told Moses ¹⁸ to speak to Aaron and his sons and the whole people of Israel and tell them this:

Whenever anyone of the house of Israel or any of the aliens residing in Israel presents their offerings—whether it is any kind of offering to fulfill a vow or any kind of voluntary^[a] offering, which may be presented to the Lord as a burnt offering— ¹⁹ in order for the offering to be accepted it must be a male without blemish, from the cattle or the sheep or the goats. ²⁰ You shall not present any animal with a defect, because it will not be accepted on your behalf.

²¹ If anyone presents a sacrifice as a fellowship offering to the Lord from the herd or the flock to fulfill a vow or as a voluntary offering, it must be without blemish for it to be accepted on your behalf. There must not be any defect in it. ²² Any animal that is blind, injured, or maimed, with a growth in the eye, a festering boil, or sores—these you shall not present to the Lord. You shall not put any of these on the altar as an offering made by fire to the Lord. ²³ You may, however, make a voluntary offering with a head of cattle or with a sheep or goat that has a long or short leg, but it will not be accepted as an offering to fulfill a vow. ²⁴ You shall not present to the Lord any animal that has its testicles bruised or crushed or torn out or cut off. You shall not do this in your land. ²⁵ You shall not present any of these animals from a foreigner as the food of your God. Because they are flawed, with a defect in them, they will not be accepted on your behalf.

²⁶ Then the Lord told Moses this:

²⁷ When a calf or a sheep or a goat is born, it shall remain with its mother for seven days. From the eighth day on, it will be acceptable as an offering that is a gift made by fire to the Lord. ²⁸ But you shall not slaughter a cow or a ewe with her young on the same day.

²⁹ When you offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the Lord, you shall sacrifice it so that you will be accepted. ³⁰ It must be eaten on the same day. You shall not leave any of it over until the morning. I am the Lord.

³¹ So you shall keep my commandments by doing them. I am the Lord. ³² Therefore you shall not defile my holy name, so that I may be honored as holy among the Israelites. I am the Lord, who sets you apart as holy, ³³ who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.

Psalm 28

My Rock

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By David.

Protect Me From the Wicked

Punish the Wicked

Then I Will Praise You

Psalm 29

The God of Glory Thunders

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A psalm by David.

The God of Glory Thunders

Empty Vows, Empty Words

5 Watch your step when you go to the house of God. Go near to listen, rather than to give the kind of sacrifice fools give, for they do not know that they are doing wrong.^{[a] 2} Do not be hasty with your mouth, and in your heart do not be in a hurry to bring a matter before God, because God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few. ³ As too much busyness leads to dreams, too many words lead to foolish talk.

⁴ When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it, for he takes no delight in fools. Fulfill whatever you have vowed. ⁵ Better that you do not vow, than that you do make a vow and do not fulfill it. ⁶ Do not let your mouth lead you into sin, and do not say to the temple official that the vow was a mistake. Why should God be angry because of what you say and ruin the work your hands have done?

⁷ A lot of dreaming produces a lot of vapor. So does a lot of words.^[b] Instead, fear God.

Life Is Futile

⁸ If you see the poor being oppressed, and you see the province being robbed of justice and fairness, do not be shocked about the situation, because one high official is watched by a higher one, and higher ones are over them! ⁹ All officials take their cut of the profit from the land; even the king benefits from the fields.^[c]

¹⁰ Anyone who loves money is never satisfied with money, and anyone who loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is vanishing vapor.

¹¹ When goods increase, so do those who eat them. What profit, then, does the owner get, except to see these things with his eyes?

¹² The worker’s sleep is sweet, whether he eats little or much, but a rich person’s abundant possessions allow him no sleep.

¹³ I have seen a sickening evil under the sun—wealth hoarded by its owner to his own harm, ¹⁴ or wealth that is lost in a bad investment. Or a man fathers a son, but he has nothing left in his hand to give him. ¹⁵ As he came out from his mother’s womb, so he will go again, naked as he came. From his hard work he can pick up nothing that he can carry away in his hand. ¹⁶ This too is a sickening evil: Just as he came, so he will go. So what does he gain, he who works for the wind? ¹⁷ Besides this, during all his days he eats in darkness, with great frustration, sickness, and anger.

¹⁸ So then, here is what I have seen to be good: It is beautiful to eat, to drink, and to look for good in all a person’s hard work which he has done under the sun, during the few days of his life that God has given him, for that is his reward. ¹⁹ Likewise, for everyone to whom God has given wealth and riches, if God has also given him ability to eat from it, to enjoy his reward,^[d] and to rejoice in the results of his hard work—this is a gift of God, ²⁰ for the man seldom reflects on the days of his life, since God keeps him busy with the joy in his heart.

Greeting and Thanksgiving

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, in accordance with the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus,

² To Timothy, my child, whom I love:

Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

³ I thank God, whom I serve with a clean conscience as my ancestors did, as I constantly remember you in my prayers night and day. ⁴ When I remember your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. ⁵ I remember your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it also lives in you.

Guard the Gospel

⁶ For this reason I am reminding you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. ⁷ For God did not give us a timid spirit, but a spirit of power and love and sound judgment. ⁸ So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me his prisoner. Instead, join with me in suffering for the gospel while relying on the power of God. ⁹ He saved us and called us with a holy calling, not because of our works, but because of his own purpose and grace. This grace was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, ¹⁰ and it has now been revealed through the appearance of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. ¹¹ For this gospel I was appointed a herald, apostle, and teacher of the Gentiles,^{[a] 12} and that is why I am suffering these things. But I am not ashamed, because I know the one in whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him until that day.

¹³ Hold fast to the pattern of sound words that you heard from me, with faith and love in Christ Jesus. ¹⁴ Through the Holy Spirit, who lives in us, guard the good deposit that was entrusted to you.

Onesiphorus

¹⁵ You know that everyone in the province of Asia turned away from me, including Phygelus and Hermogenes. ¹⁶ May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he refreshed me many times and was not ashamed of my chains. ¹⁷ On the contrary, after he arrived in Rome, he searched diligently for me and found me. ¹⁸ May the Lord grant that he will find mercy from the Lord on that day. And you know very well how much he did when he served in Ephesus.