M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
19 And the Lord said to Moses,
2 Say to all the assembly of the Israelites, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.(A)
3 Each of you shall give due respect to his mother and his father, and keep My Sabbaths holy. I the Lord am your God.
4 Do not turn to idols and things of nought or make for yourselves molten gods. I the Lord am your God.
5 And when you offer a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord, you shall offer it so that you may be accepted.
6 It shall be eaten the same day you offer it and on the day following; and if anything remains until the third day, it shall be burned in the fire.
7 If it is eaten at all the third day, it is loathsome; it will not be accepted.
8 But everyone who eats it shall bear his iniquity, for he has profaned a holy thing of the Lord; and that soul shall be cut off from his people [and not be included in the atonement made for them].
9 And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field to its very corners, neither shall you gather the fallen ears or gleanings of your harvest.
10 And you shall not glean your vineyard bare, neither shall you gather its fallen grapes; you shall leave them for the poor and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.
11 You shall not steal, or deal falsely, or lie one to another.(B)
12 And you shall not swear by My name falsely, neither shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.
13 You shall not defraud or oppress your neighbor or rob him; the wages of a hired servant shall not remain with you all night until morning.
14 You shall not curse the deaf or put a stumbling block before the blind, but you shall [reverently] fear your God. I am the Lord.
15 You shall do no injustice in judging a case; you shall not be partial to the poor or show a preference for the mighty, but in righteousness and according to the merits of the case judge your neighbor.
16 You shall not go up and down as a dispenser of gossip and scandal among your people, nor shall you [secure yourself by false testimony or by silence and] endanger the life of your neighbor. I am the Lord.
17 You shall not hate your brother in your heart; but you shall surely rebuke your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him.(C)
18 You shall not take revenge or bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.(D)
19 You shall keep My statutes. You shall not let your domestic animals breed with a different kind [of animal]; you shall not sow your field with mixed seed, neither wear a garment of linen mixed with wool.
20 And if a man lies carnally with a woman who is a slave betrothed to a husband and not yet ransomed or given her freedom, they shall be punished [after investigation]; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free;
21 But he shall bring his guilt or trespass offering to the Lord to the door of the Tent of Meeting, a ram for a guilt or trespass offering.
22 The priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt or trespass offering before the Lord for his sin, and he shall be forgiven for committing the sin.
23 And when you come into the land and have planted all kinds of trees for food, then you shall count the fruit of them as inedible and forbidden to you for three years; it shall not be eaten.
24 In the fourth year all their fruit shall be holy for giving praise to the Lord.
25 But in the fifth year you may eat of the fruit [of the trees], that their produce may enrich you; I am the Lord your God.
26 You shall not eat anything with the blood; neither shall you use magic, omens, or witchcraft [or predict events by horoscope or signs and lucky days].
27 You shall not round the corners of the hair of your heads nor trim the corners of your beard [as some idolaters do].
28 You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead nor print or tattoo any marks upon you; I am the Lord.
29 Do not profane your daughter by causing her to be a harlot, lest the land fall into harlotry and become full of wickedness.
30 You shall keep My Sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary. I am the Lord.
31 Turn not to those [mediums] who have familiar spirits or to wizards; do not seek them out to be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.
32 You shall rise up before the hoary head and honor the face of the old man and [reverently] fear your God. I am the Lord.
33 And if a stranger dwells temporarily with you in your land, you shall not suppress and mistreat him.
34 But the stranger who dwells with you shall be to you as one born among you; and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.
35 You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length or weight or quantity.
36 You shall have accurate and just balances, just weights, just ephah and hin measures. I am the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt.
37 You shall observe all My statutes and ordinances and do them. I am the Lord.
Psalm 23
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my Shepherd [to feed, guide, and shield me], I shall not lack.
2 He makes me lie down in [fresh, tender] green pastures; He leads me beside the still and restful waters.(A)
3 He refreshes and restores my life (my self); He leads me in the paths of righteousness [uprightness and right standing with Him—not for my earning it, but] for His name’s sake.
4 Yes, though I walk through the [deep, sunless] valley of the shadow of death, I will fear or dread no evil, for You are with me; Your rod [to protect] and Your staff [to guide], they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with [a]oil; my [brimming] cup runs over.
6 Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place.
Psalm 24
A Psalm of David.
1 The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, the world and they who dwell in it.(B)
2 For He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the currents and the rivers.
3 Who shall go up into the mountain of the Lord? Or who shall stand in His Holy Place?
4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who has not lifted himself up to falsehood or to what is false, nor sworn deceitfully.(C)
5 He shall receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
6 This is the generation [description] of those who seek Him [who inquire of and for Him and of necessity require Him], who seek Your face, [O God of] Jacob. Selah [pause, and think of that]!(D)
7 Lift up your heads, O you gates; and be lifted up, you age-abiding doors, that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is the King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; yes, lift them up, you age-abiding doors, that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is [He then] this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of glory. Selah [pause, and think of that]!
2 I said in my mind, Come now, I will prove you with mirth and test you with pleasure; so have a good time [enjoy pleasure]. But this also was vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!(A)
2 I said of laughter, It is mad, and of pleasure, What does it accomplish?
3 I searched in my mind how to cheer my body with wine—yet at the same time having my mind hold its course and guide me with [human] wisdom—and how to lay hold of folly, till I might see what was good for the sons of men to do under heaven all the days of their lives.
4 I made great works; I built myself houses, I planted vineyards.
5 I made for myself gardens and orchards and I planted in them all kinds of fruit trees.
6 I made for myself pools of water from which to water the forest and make the trees bud.
7 I bought menservants and maidservants and had servants born in my house. Also I had great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem.
8 I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and of the provinces. I got for myself men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons of men—[a]concubines very many.(B)
9 So I became great and increased more than all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me and stood by me.
10 And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them; I withheld not my heart from any pleasure, for my heart rejoiced in all my labor, and this was my portion and reward for all my toil.
11 Then I looked on all that my hands had done and the labor I had spent in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it, and there was no profit under the sun.(C)
12 So I turned to consider [human] wisdom and madness and folly; for what can the man do who succeeds the king? Nothing but what has been done already.
13 Then I saw that even [human] wisdom [that brings sorrow] is better than [the pleasures of] folly as far as light is better than darkness.
14 The wise man’s eyes are in his head, but the fool walks in darkness; and yet I perceived that [in the end] one event happens to them both.(D)
15 Then said I in my heart, As it happens to the fool, so it will happen even to me. And of what use is it then for me to be more wise? Then I said in my heart, This also is vanity (emptiness, vainglory, and futility)!
16 For of the wise man, the same as of the fool, there is no permanent remembrance, since in the days to come all will be long forgotten. And how does the wise man die? Even as the fool!
17 So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me; for all is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.
18 And I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will succeed me.(E)
19 And who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have dominion over all my labor in which I have toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
20 So I turned around and gave my heart up to despair over all the labor of my efforts under the sun.
21 For here is a man whose labor is with wisdom and knowledge and skill; yet to a man who has not toiled for it he must leave it all as his portion. This also is vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility) and a great evil!
22 For what has a man left from all his labor and from the striving and vexation of his heart in which he has toiled under the sun?
23 For all his days are but pain and sorrow, and his work is a vexation and grief; his mind takes no rest even at night. This is also vanity (emptiness, falsity, and futility)!
24 There is nothing better for a man than that he should eat and drink and make himself enjoy good in his labor. Even this, I have seen, is from the hand of God.
25 For who can eat or who can have enjoyment any more than I can—[b]apart from Him?
26 For to the person who pleases Him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and heaping up, that he may give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after the wind and a feeding on it.
4 But the [Holy] Spirit distinctly and expressly declares that in latter times some will turn away from the faith, giving attention to deluding and seducing spirits and doctrines that demons teach,
2 Through the hypocrisy and pretensions of liars whose consciences are seared (cauterized),
3 Who forbid people to marry and [teach them] to abstain from [certain kinds of] foods which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and have [an increasingly clear] knowledge of the truth.
4 For everything God has created is good, and nothing is to be thrown away or refused if it is received with thanksgiving.
5 For it is hallowed and consecrated by the Word of God and by prayer.
6 If you lay all these instructions before the brethren, you will be a worthy steward and a good minister of Christ Jesus, ever nourishing your own self on the truths of the faith and of the good [Christian] instruction which you have closely followed.
7 But refuse and avoid irreverent legends (profane and impure and godless fictions, mere grandmothers’ tales) and silly myths, and express your disapproval of them. Train yourself toward godliness (piety), [keeping yourself spiritually fit].
8 For physical training is of some value (useful for a little), but godliness (spiritual training) is useful and of value in everything and in every way, for it holds promise for the present life and also for the life which is to come.
9 This saying is reliable and worthy of complete acceptance by everybody.
10 With a view to this we toil and strive, [yes and] [a]suffer reproach, because we have [fixed our] hope on the living God, Who is the Savior (Preserver, Maintainer, Deliverer) of all men, especially of those who believe (trust in, rely on, and adhere to Him).
11 Continue to command these things and to teach them.
12 Let no one despise or think less of you because of your youth, but be an example (pattern) for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, and in purity.
13 Till I come, devote yourself to [public and private] reading, to exhortation (preaching and personal appeals), and to teaching and instilling doctrine.
14 Do not neglect the gift which is in you, [that special inward endowment] which was directly imparted to you [by the Holy Spirit] by prophetic utterance when the elders laid their hands upon you [at your ordination].
15 Practice and cultivate and meditate upon these duties; throw yourself wholly into them [as your ministry], so that your progress may be evident to everybody.
16 Look well to yourself [to your own personality] and to [your] teaching; persevere in these things [hold to them], for by so doing you will save both yourself and those who hear you.
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation