M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Parashah 30: K’doshim (Holy people) 19:1–20:27

[In regular years read with Parashah 29, in leap years read separately]

19 Adonai said to Moshe, ² “Speak to the entire community of Isra’el; tell them, ‘You people are to be holy because I, Adonai your God, am holy.

³ “‘Every one of you is to revere his father and mother, and you are to keep my Shabbats; I am Adonai your God.

⁴ “‘Do not turn to idols, and do not cast metal gods for yourselves; I am Adonai your God.

⁵ “‘When you offer a sacrifice of peace offerings to Adonai, offer it in a way that will make you accepted. ⁶ It is to be eaten the same day you offer it and the following day; but if any of it remains until the third day, it is to be burned up completely. ⁷ If any of it is eaten on the third day, it will have become a disgusting thing and will not be accepted; ⁸ moreover, everyone who eats it will bear the consequences of profaning something holy meant for Adonai — that person will be cut off from his people.

⁹ “‘When you harvest the ripe crops produced in your land, don’t harvest all the way to corners of your field, and don’t gather the ears of grain left by the harvesters. ¹⁰ Likewise, don’t gather the grapes left on the vine or fallen on the ground after harvest; leave them for the poor and the foreigner; I am Adonai your God.

¹¹ “‘Do not steal from, defraud or lie to each other. ¹² Do not swear by my name falsely, which would be profaning the name of your God; I am Adonai. ¹³ Do not oppress or rob your neighbor; specifically, you are not to keep back the wages of a hired worker all night until morning.

¹⁴ “‘Do not speak a curse against a deaf person or place an obstacle in the way of a blind person; rather, fear your God; I am Adonai.

(RY: v, LY: ii) ¹⁵ “‘Do not be unjust in judging — show neither partiality to the poor nor deference to the mighty, but with justice judge your neighbor.

¹⁶ “‘Do not go around spreading slander among your people, but also don’t stand idly by when your neighbor’s life is at stake; I am Adonai.

¹⁷ “‘Do not hate your brother in your heart, but rebuke your neighbor frankly, so that you won’t carry sin because of him. ¹⁸ Don’t take vengeance on or bear a grudge against any of your people; rather, love your neighbor as yourself; I am Adonai.

¹⁹ “‘Observe my regulations.

“‘Don’t let your livestock mate with those of another kind, don’t sow your field with two different kinds of grain, and don’t wear a garment of cloth made with two different kinds of thread.

²⁰ “‘If a man has sexual relations with a woman who is a slave intended for another man, and she has neither been redeemed nor given her freedom, there is to be an investigation. They are not to be put to death, because she was not free. ²¹ In reparation he is to bring a ram as a guilt offering for himself to the entrance of the tent of meeting. ²² The cohen will make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering before Adonai for the sin he committed, and he will be forgiven for the sin he committed.

(LY: iii) ²³ “‘When you enter the land and plant various kinds of fruit trees, you are to regard its fruit as forbidden — for three years it will be forbidden to you and not eaten. ²⁴ In the fourth year all its fruit will be holy, for praising Adonai. ²⁵ But in the fifth year you may eat its fruit, so that it will produce even more for you; I am Adonai your God.

²⁶ “‘Do not eat anything with blood. Do not practice divination or fortune-telling. ²⁷ Don’t round your hair at the temples or mar the edges of your beard. ²⁸ Don’t cut gashes in your flesh when someone dies or tattoo yourselves; I am Adonai.

²⁹ “‘Do not debase your daughter by making her a prostitute, so that the land will not fall into prostitution and become full of shame.

³⁰ “‘Keep my Shabbats, and revere my sanctuary; I am Adonai.

³¹ “‘Do not turn to spirit-mediums or sorcerers; don’t seek them out, to be defiled by them; I am Adonai your God.

³² “‘Stand up in the presence of a person with gray hair, show respect for the old; you are to fear your God; I am Adonai.

(RY: vi, LY: iv) ³³ “‘If a foreigner stays with you in your land, do not do him wrong. ³⁴ Rather, treat the foreigner staying with you like the native-born among you — you are to love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt; I am Adonai your God.

³⁵ “‘Don’t be dishonest when measuring length, weight or capacity. ³⁶ Rather, use an honest balance-scale, honest weights, an honest bushel dry-measure and an honest gallon liquid-measure; I am Adonai your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt. ³⁷ Observe all my regulations and rulings, and do them; I am Adonai.’”

2 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test myself with pleasure and enjoying good things”; but this too was pointless. ² Of laughter I said, “This is stupid,” and of pleasure, “What’s the use of it?”

³ I searched my mind for how to gratify my body with wine and, with my mind still guiding me with wisdom, how to pursue foolishness; my object was to find out what was the best thing for people to do during the short time they have under heaven to live. ⁴ I worked on a grand scale — I built myself palaces, planted myself vineyards, ⁵ and made myself gardens and parks; in them I planted all kinds of fruit trees. ⁶ I made myself pools from which to water the trees springing up in the forest. ⁷ I bought male and female slaves, and I had my home-born slaves as well. I also had growing herds of cattle and flocks of sheep, more than anyone before me in Yerushalayim. ⁸ I amassed silver and gold, the wealth of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, things that provide sensual delight, and a good many concubines. ⁹ So I grew great, surpassing all who preceded me in Yerushalayim; my wisdom, too, stayed with me. ¹⁰ I denied my eyes nothing they wanted. I withheld no pleasure from myself; for I took pleasure in all my work, and this was my reward for all my work. ¹¹ Then I looked at all that my hands had accomplished and at the work I had toiled at; and I saw that it was all meaningless and feeding on wind, and that there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

¹² So I decided to look more carefully at wisdom, stupidity and foolishness; for what can the man who succeeds the king do, except what has already been done? ¹³ I saw that wisdom is more useful than foolishness, just as light is more useful than darkness.

¹⁵ So I said to myself, “If the same thing happens to the fool as to me, then what did I gain by being wise?” and I thought to myself, “This too is pointless. ¹⁶ For the wise man, like the fool, will not be long remembered, inasmuch as in the times to come, everything will long ago have been forgotten. The wise man, no less than the fool, must die.”

¹⁷ So I came to hate life, because the activities done under the sun were loathesome to me, since everything is meaningless and feeding on wind. ¹⁸ I hated all the things for which I had worked under the sun, because I saw that I would have to leave them to the man who will come after me. ¹⁹ Who knows whether he will be a wise man or a fool? Yet he will have control over all the things I worked for and which demonstrated how wise I am under the sun. This too is pointless. ²⁰ Thus I came to despair over all the things I had worked for under the sun. ²¹ Here is a man whose work is done with wisdom, knowledge and skill; yet he has to leave it to someone who has put no work into it. This is not only pointless, but a great evil. ²² For what does a person get from all his efforts and ambitions permeating the work he does under the sun? ²³ His whole life is one of pain, and his work is full of stress; even at night his mind gets no rest. This too is pointless. ²⁴ So there is nothing better for a man to do than eat, drink and and let himself enjoy the good that results from his work. I also realized that this is from God’s hand. ²⁵ For who will eat and who will enjoy except me? ²⁶ For to the man who is good from [God’s] viewpoint he gives wisdom, knowledge and joy; but to the sinner he gives the task of collecting and accumulating things to leave to him who is good from God’s viewpoint. This too is pointless and feeding on wind.

4 The Spirit expressly states that in the acharit-hayamim some people will apostatize from the faith by paying attention to deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. ² Such teachings come from the hypocrisy of liars whose own consciences have been burned, as if with a red-hot branding iron. ³ They forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods which God created to be eaten with thanksgiving by those who have come to trust and to know the truth. ⁴ For everything created by God is good, and nothing received with thanksgiving needs to be rejected, ⁵ because the word of God and prayer make it holy.

⁶ If you present all this to the brothers, you will be serving the Messiah Yeshua well; it will show that you have digested the words of the faith and of the good teaching which you have followed. ⁷ But refuse godless bubbe-meises, and exercise yourself in godliness. ⁸ For although physical exercise does have some value, godliness is valuable for everything, since it holds promise both for the present life and for the life to come. ⁹ Here is a statement you can trust, one that fully deserves to be accepted ¹⁰ (indeed, it is for this that we toil and strive): we have our hope set on a living God who is the deliverer of all humanity, especially of those who trust.

¹¹ Command these things and teach them. ¹² Don’t let anyone look down on you because of your youth; on the contrary, set the believers an example in your speech, behavior, love, trust and purity. ¹³ Until I come, pay attention to the public reading of the Scriptures. ¹⁴ Do not neglect your gift, which you were given through a prophecy when the body of elders gave you s’mikhah. ¹⁵ Be diligent about this work, throw yourself into it, so that your progress may be clear to everyone. ¹⁶ Pay attention to yourself and to the teaching, continue in it, for by so doing you will deliver both yourself and those who hear you.