M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Instruction on the Sanctuary and Its Ministers
Chapter 25
Moses Receives the Command to Establish a Sanctuary. 1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the children of Israel to gather an offering for me. Let each one raise up as an offering what his heart tells him is right. 3 This is what you shall gather from them: gold, silver, and bronze, 4 blue, purple, and scarlet cloth, fine linen, goats’ hair, 5 rams’ skins dyed red, sheep skins, acacia wood, 6 oil for the lamps, balsam for anointing oil and for fragrant incense, 7 onyx stones and stones for setting in the ephod and the breastplate.
8 “They are to build a sanctuary for me and I will live in their midst. 9 Build it just as I will show you, following the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furniture.
10 The Ark of the Covenant.“They are to make an Ark out of acacia wood. It is to be two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits high.[a] 11 You are to cover it with gold inside and out, and they are to put a gold molding on it. 12 You are to cast four golden rings for it and attach them to its four legs, two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 You are to make poles out of acacia wood and cover them with gold. 14 You shall put the poles into the rings on the two sides of the Ark so that you may carry the Ark with them. 15 The poles must remain in the rings of the Ark; they are not to be taken out of them.
16 “You will place the Testimony that I will give you in the Ark.
17 “You shall make a seat[b] of atonement of pure gold. It shall be two and a half cubits long and one and a half cubits wide. 18 You will make two cherubim[c] out of gold. Make them as hammered works, placing them on the two sides of the seat of atonement.
19 “Make one cherubim at one end and the other cherubim at the other end. Make the cherubim all of one piece at the two ends of the seat of atonement. 20 The cherubim shall have two wings spread out covering the seat of atonement. They shall be facing each other, and the faces of the cherubim will be turned toward the seat of atonement.
21 “You will place the seat of atonement on top of the Ark and place the Testimony that I will give you inside the Ark.
22 “I will meet you there. I will speak with you from the seat of atonement that is between the two cherubim upon the Ark of Testimony concerning all that I will command the children of Israel.
23 The Table of the Bread Offered to God.“You are to make a table of acacia wood, two cubits long, one cubit wide, and one and a half cubits high. 24 Cover it with pure gold and place a molding of gold upon it. 25 Make a frame one handbreath wide and place a molding of gold around it. 26 You shall also make four golden rings for it and place them at the four corners that are on its four legs. 27 Place the rings alongside the borders to hold the poles used in carrying the table.
28 “Make the poles out of acacia wood, cover them in gold, and carry the table with them. 29 Also make dishes and plates and flagons and jars out of pure gold to pour out libations. 30 Set the bread of the Presence on the table before me always.
31 The Golden Lampstand.“You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold and hammer it out.
“Its base and shaft; its bowls and knobs and flowers shall be of one piece. 32 Six of the branches of the lampstand shall come out of its sides, three from one side of the lampstand and three from the other side of the lampstand. 33 On one branch there shall be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, with bud and flower. Also there shall be three cups shaped like almond blossoms, with bud and flower, on the next branch—and similarly for all six branches that rise out of the lampstand.
34 “On the shaft of the lampstand there shall be four cups shaped like almond blossoms with their bud and flower. 35 One bud shall be under the first set of two branches coming out of it, and one bud under the second set of two branches coming out of it, and one bud under the third set of two branches coming out of it, for there are six branches coming out of it. 36 The buds and their respective branches must be one piece with the lampstand, and the whole made from one piece of pure gold that has been beaten into shape.
37 “You shall then make seven lamps for the lampstand and set them on the lampstand to shed light in front of it. 38 Its snuffers and their trays are to be made of pure gold.
39 “Use a talent[d] of pure gold for making the lampstand and all of its accessories.
40 “See that you make them according to the model that I have shown you on the mountain.
The Savior of the World and the New Worship
Chapter 4
Journeying to Galilee through Samaria.[a] 1 Now when the Lord learned that the Pharisees had been informed that he had more disciples and was baptizing more people than John 2 (although actually it was not Jesus himself but his disciples who were baptizing), 3 he left Judea and set forth for Galilee.
Jesus and the Samaritan Woman.[b] 4 He had to pass through Samaria.[c] 5 So he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar,[d] near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down at the well. It was about noon.[e]
7 When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the town to purchase food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew. How can you ask me, a Samaritan woman,[f] for some water to drink?” (Jews do not share anything in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus replied,
“If you recognized the gift of God
and who it is that is asking you for something to drink,
you would have asked him
and he would have given you living water.”
11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you do not have a bucket, and the well is deep.[g] Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob who gave us this well and drank from it himself along with his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus said to her,
“Everyone who drinks this water
will be thirsty again.
14 But whoever drinks the water that I will give him
will never be thirsty.
The water that I will give him
will become a spring of water within him
welling up to eternal life.”
15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I may not be thirsty and have to come here to draw water.”
16 Jesus told her, “Go, call your husband and come back here.” 17 The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.”
19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain,[h] but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus told her,
“Believe me, woman,
the hour is coming
when you will worship the Father
neither on this mountain
nor in Jerusalem.
22 You worship what you do not know;
we worship what we do know,
for salvation is from the Jews.
23 “But the hour is coming,
indeed it is already here,
when the true worshipers
will worship the Father
in Spirit and truth.[i]
Indeed it is worshipers like these
that the Father seeks.
24 God is Spirit,
and those who worship him
must worship in Spirit and truth.”
25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one who is called Christ. When he comes, he will reveal everything to us.”[j] 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he,[k] the one who is speaking to you.”
27 At this point, his disciples returned, and they were astonished to find him speaking with a woman, but no one asked, “What do you want from her?” or “Why are you conversing with her?” 28 The woman left behind her water jar and went off to the town, where she said to the people, 29 “Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done. Could this be the Christ?” 30 And so they departed from the town and made their way to see him.
31 The Time of the Harvest.[l] Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat something.” 32 But he told them,
“I have food to eat
about which you do not know.”
33 Then his disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them,
“My food is to do the will
of the one who sent me,
and to accomplish his work.
35 Do you not have a saying,
‘Four months more,
and then comes the harvest’?
“I tell you,
open your eyes and look at the fields;
already they are white for the harvest.
36 The reaper is even now receiving his pay;
already he is gathering the crops for eternal life
so that the sower and the reaper can rejoice together.
37 “Thus, the saying holds true,
‘One sows and another reaps.’
38 I sent you to reap
what you had not worked for.
Others have performed the work,
and you have reaped the benefits of their labor.”
39 Jesus Is Truly the Savior of the World.[m] Many Samaritans from that town came to believe in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” 40 So when the Samaritans came to him, they pleaded with him to stay with them, and he remained there for two days. 41 And many more began to believe in him because of the words he spoke to them. 42 They said to the woman, “We no longer believe simply because of what you said, for we have heard him for ourselves, and we are convinced that this man is truly the Savior of the world.”
43 Return to Galilee.[n] When the two days were over, Jesus departed for Galilee. 44 He himself had declared that a prophet is not treated with honor in his own hometown. 45 When he arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed him, since they had seen all he had done in Jerusalem during the feast, having been at the feast themselves.
46 Jesus Heals the Official’s Son.[o] He went again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. At Capernaum, there was a royal official whose son was ill. 47 When this man heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went to him and pleaded that he come and heal his son who was near death.
48 Jesus said to him, “Unless you witness signs and wonders, you will not believe.” 49 The royal official said to him, “Sir, come down before my child dies.” 50 Jesus replied, “Return home. Your son will live.”
The man believed what Jesus said to him, and he departed. 51 While he was still on his way, his servants met him saying that his child was going to live. 52 He asked them at what time the boy had begun to recover, and they told him, “The fever left him yesterday at one o’clock in the afternoon.”[p] 53 Then the father realized that was the exact hour at which Jesus had assured him, “Your son will live,” and he and his entire household came to believe.
54 This was the second sign that Jesus performed after returning from Judea into Galilee.
Preface of the Redactor[a]
Chapter 1
1 The proverbs of Solomon,[b] the son of David king of Israel:
2 Designed to enable people to appreciate wisdom[c] and discipline
and to comprehend words that foster insight,
3 to acquire instruction in upright conduct,
righteousness, justice, and honesty,
4 so that prudence[d] may be imparted to the simple,
and the young may gain knowledge and discretion.
5 By listening to them the wise will add to their learning,
and those gifted with discernment will increase their ability
6 to perceive the meaning of proverbs and obscure sayings,
the words of the sages and their riddles.
7 The fear of the Lord[e] is the beginning of knowledge;
fools are those who despise wisdom and instruction.
8 Give heed, my son,[f] to your father’s instruction,
and do not reject your mother’s teaching.
9 They will be a crown of grace for your head
and a pendant of honor for your neck.
Prologue: Invitation to Wisdom[g]
If Sinners Try To Entice You . . .[h]
10 My son, if sinners try to entice you,
refuse to join them.
11 They may say, “Come and join us
as we lie in ambush to shed someone’s blood;
let us waylay some innocent man;
12 like the netherworld we can swallow him alive,
in his prime like those who go down to the pit.
13 We will discover riches of every sort[i]
with which we can fill our houses;
14 so throw in your lot with us
and share in the common purse.”
15 My son, do not accompany them!
Do not allow your feet to follow their path!
16 For their feet are rushing headlong to evil;
they are hastening to shed blood.[j]
17 It is useless to spread a net
if the bird is watching.[k]
18 These men lie in wait for their own blood
and set an ambush against themselves.
19 Such is the fate of all who seek ill-gotten gain;
such greed takes away the life of those who acquire it.
Wisdom Cries Out Her Message in the Street[l]
20 Wisdom cries out in the street;
she raises her voice in the public squares.
21 She calls out on the crowded street corners;
at the city gates she proclaims her message:
22 “How long will you simple people continue to be fools?
How long will you mockers[m] delight in your mocking?
How long will you fools continue to hate knowledge?
23 If you would seriously consider my reproof,
I would pour out my thoughts to you
and make my precepts known to you.
24 “However, because you refused to listen to my call,
because no one heeded when I stretched out my hand,
25 and because you rejected all my counsel
and ignored all my warnings,
26 [n]I in my turn will laugh at your distress
and mock you when panic overwhelms you,
27 when terror suddenly strikes you like a hurricane
and your doom approaches like a whirlwind,
when distress and anguish come upon you.
28 “Then they will cry out to me but I will not answer;
they will search for me, but not find me.[o]
29 For they hated knowledge
and chose not to fear the Lord.[p]
30 They refused to accept my advice
and spurned all my warnings.
31 “Now they must eat the fruits of their conduct
and be glutted with the results of their schemes.[q]
32 For the stubbornness of the simple kills them;
fools come to final ruin by their own complacency.
33 But whoever listens to me will be secure
and live in peace, without fear of disaster.”
Chapter 13
1 This will be the third visit I am making to you. Every charge must be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 2 I warned those who have sinned, as well as everyone else, and I warn them now in my absence as I did when present on my second visit: when I come again, I will spare no one.
3 This will give you the proof you seek that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but he is powerful among you. 4 For he was crucified in weakness, but he is now alive by the power of God. Similarly, we are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live in the power of God.
Examine Yourselves. 5 Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? If he is not, then you have failed the test. 6 It is my hope that you will come to the realization that we have not failed. 7 But we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong—not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but so that you may do what is right, even though we may appear to have failed.
8 We have no power to do anything against the truth but only for the truth. 9 We rejoice when we are weak, just as long as you are strong. This is what we desire—that you may become perfect.
10 I am writing this letter prior to my arrival so that when I come I may not have to treat you harshly in exercising the authority that the Lord has given me to build up and not to tear down.
Conclusion[a]
11 Live in Peace. And now, brethren, farewell. Mend your ways. Encourage one another. Be of one mind and live in peace. Then the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.[b] All the saints send you greetings.
13 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
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