M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

20 ^1-2 The Lord gave Moses these further instructions for the people of Israel:

“Anyone—whether an Israelite or a foreigner living among you—who sacrifices his child as a burnt offering to Molech shall without fail be stoned by his peers. ³ And I myself will turn against that man and cut him off from all his people, because he has given his child to Molech, thus making my Tabernacle^[a] unfit for me to live in, and insulting my holy name. ⁴ And if the people of the land pretend they do not know what the man has done and refuse to put him to death, ⁵ then I myself will set my face against that man and his family and cut him off, along with all others who turn to other gods than me.

⁶ “I will set my face against anyone who consults mediums and wizards instead of me and I will cut that person off from his people. ⁷ So sanctify yourselves and be holy, for I am the Lord your God. ⁸ You must obey all of my commandments, for I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

⁹ “Anyone who curses his father or mother shall surely be put to death—for he has cursed his own flesh and blood.

¹⁰ “If a man commits adultery with another man’s wife, both the man and woman shall be put to death. ¹¹ If a man sleeps with his father’s wife, he has defiled what is his father’s; both the man and the woman must die, for it is their own fault. ¹² And if a man has sexual intercourse with his daughter-in-law, both shall be executed: they have brought it upon themselves by defiling each other. ¹³ The penalty for homosexual acts is death to both parties. They have brought it upon themselves. ¹⁴ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman and with her mother, it is a great evil. All three shall be burned alive to wipe out wickedness from among you.

¹⁵ “If a man has sexual intercourse with an animal, he shall be executed and the animal killed. ¹⁶ If a woman has sexual intercourse with an animal, kill the woman and the animal, for they deserve their punishment.^[b]

¹⁷ “If a man has sexual intercourse with his sister, whether the daughter of his father or of his mother, it is a shameful thing, and they shall publicly be cut off from the people of Israel. He shall bear his guilt. ¹⁸ If a man has sexual intercourse with a woman during her period of menstruation, both shall be excommunicated, for he has uncovered the source of her flow, and she has permitted it.

¹⁹ “Sexual intercourse is outlawed between a man and his maiden aunt—whether the sister of his mother or of his father—for they are near of kin; they shall bear their guilt. ²⁰ If a man has intercourse with his uncle’s wife, he has taken what belongs to his uncle; their punishment is that they shall bear their sin and die childless. ²¹ If a man marries his brother’s wife,^[c] this is impurity; for he has taken what belongs to his brother, and they shall be childless.

²² “You must obey all of my laws and ordinances so that I will not throw you out of your new land.^{[d] 23} You must not follow the customs of the nations I cast out before you, for they do all these things I have warned you against; that is the reason I abhor them. ²⁴ I have promised you their land; I will give it to you to possess it. It is a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the Lord your God who has made a distinction between you and the people of other nations.

²⁵ “You shall therefore make a distinction between the birds and animals I have given you permission to eat and those you may not eat. You shall not contaminate yourselves and make yourselves hateful to me by eating any animal or bird which I have forbidden, though the land teem with them. ²⁶ You shall be holy to me, for I the Lord am holy, and I have set you apart from all other peoples to be mine.

²⁷ “A medium or a wizard—whether man or woman—shall surely be stoned to death. They have caused their own doom.”

25 To you, O Lord, I pray. ² Don’t fail me, Lord, for I am trusting you. Don’t let my enemies succeed. Don’t give them victory over me. ³ None of those who have faith in God will ever be disgraced for trusting him. But all who harm the innocent shall be defeated.

⁴ Show me the path where I should go, O Lord; point out the right road for me to walk. ⁵ Lead me; teach me; for you are the God who gives me salvation. I have no hope except in you. ^6-7 Overlook my youthful sins, O Lord! Look at me instead through eyes of mercy and forgiveness, through eyes of everlasting love and kindness.

⁸ The Lord is good and glad to teach the proper path to all who go astray; ⁹ he will teach the ways that are right and best to those who humbly turn to him. ¹⁰ And when we obey him, every path he guides us on is fragrant with his loving-kindness and his truth.

¹¹ But Lord, my sins! How many they are. Oh, pardon them for the honor of your name.

¹² Where is the man who fears the Lord? God will teach him how to choose the best.

¹³ He shall live within God’s circle of blessing, and his children shall inherit the earth.

¹⁴ Friendship with God is reserved for those who reverence him. With them alone he shares the secrets of his promises.

¹⁵ My eyes are ever looking to the Lord for help, for he alone can rescue me. ¹⁶ Come, Lord, and show me your mercy, for I am helpless, overwhelmed, in deep distress; ¹⁷ my problems go from bad to worse. Oh, save me from them all! ¹⁸ See my sorrows; feel my pain; forgive my sins. ¹⁹ See how many enemies I have and how viciously they hate me! ²⁰ Save me from them! Deliver my life from their power! Oh, let it never be said that I trusted you in vain!

²¹ Assign me Godliness and Integrity as my bodyguards, for I expect you to protect me ²² and to ransom Israel from all her troubles.

3 There is a right time for everything:

⁹ What does one really get from hard work? ¹⁰ I have thought about this in connection with all the various kinds of work God has given to mankind. ¹¹ Everything is appropriate in its own time. But though God has planted eternity in the hearts of men, even so, many cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end. ¹² So I conclude that, first, there is nothing better for a man than to be happy and to enjoy himself as long as he can; ¹³ and second, that he should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of his labors, for these are gifts from God.

¹⁴ And I know this, that whatever God does is final—nothing can be added or taken from it; God’s purpose in this is that man should fear the all-powerful God.^[a]

¹⁵ Whatever is has been long ago; and whatever is going to be has been before; God brings to pass again what was in the distant past and disappeared.^[b]

¹⁶ Moreover, I notice that throughout the earth justice is giving way to crime, and even the police courts are corrupt. ¹⁷ I said to myself, “In due season God will judge everything man does, both good and bad.”

¹⁸ And then I realized that God is letting the world go on its sinful way so that he can test mankind, and so that men themselves will see that they are no better than beasts. ¹⁹ For men and animals both breathe the same air, and both die. So mankind has no real advantage over the beasts; what an absurdity! ²⁰ All go to one place—the dust from which they came and to which they must return. ²¹ For who can prove that the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of animals goes downward into dust? ²² So I saw that there is nothing better for men than that they should be happy in their work, for that is what they are here for, and no one can bring them back to life to enjoy what will be in the future, so let them enjoy it now.

5 Never speak sharply to an older man, but plead with him respectfully just as though he were your own father. Talk to the younger men as you would to much-loved brothers. ² Treat the older women as mothers, and the girls as your sisters, thinking only pure thoughts about them.

³ The church should take loving care of women whose husbands have died if they don’t have anyone else to help them. ⁴ But if they have children or grandchildren, these are the ones who should take the responsibility, for kindness should begin at home, supporting needy parents. This is something that pleases God very much.

⁵ The church should care for widows who are poor and alone in the world if they are looking to God for his help and spending much time in prayer; ⁶ but not if they are spending their time running around gossiping, seeking only pleasure and thus ruining their souls. ⁷ This should be your church rule so that the Christians will know and do what is right.

⁸ But anyone who won’t care for his own relatives when they need help, especially those living in his own family, has no right to say he is a Christian. Such a person is worse than the heathen.

⁹ A widow who wants to become one of the special church workers^[a] should be at least sixty years old and have been married only once. ¹⁰ She must be well thought of by everyone because of the good she has done. Has she brought up her children well? Has she been kind to strangers as well as to other Christians? Has she helped those who are sick and hurt? Is she always ready to show kindness?

¹¹ The younger widows should not become members of this special group because after a while they are likely to disregard their vow to Christ and marry again. ¹² And so they will stand condemned because they broke their first promise. ¹³ Besides, they are likely to be lazy and spend their time gossiping around from house to house, getting into other people’s business. ¹⁴ So I think it is better for these younger widows to marry again and have children and take care of their own homes; then no one will be able to say anything against them. ¹⁵ For I am afraid that some of them have already turned away from the church and been led astray by Satan.

¹⁶ Let me remind you again that a widow’s relatives must take care of her and not leave this to the church to do. Then the church can spend its money for the care of widows who are all alone and have nowhere else to turn.

¹⁷ Pastors who do their work well should be paid well and should be highly appreciated, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. ¹⁸ For the Scriptures say, “Never tie up the mouth of an ox when it is treading out the grain—let him eat as he goes along!” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!”

¹⁹ Don’t listen to complaints against the pastor unless there are two or three witnesses to accuse him. ²⁰ If he has really sinned, then he should be rebuked in front of the whole church so that no one else will follow his example.

²¹ I solemnly command you in the presence of God and the Lord Jesus Christ and of the holy angels to do this whether the pastor is a special friend of yours or not. All must be treated exactly the same. ²² Never be in a hurry about choosing a pastor; you may overlook his sins, and it will look as if you approve of them. Be sure that you yourself stay away from all sin. ²³ (By the way, this doesn’t mean you should completely give up drinking wine. You ought to take a little sometimes as medicine for your stomach because you are sick so often.)

²⁴ Remember that some men, even pastors, lead sinful lives, and everyone knows it. In such situations you can do something about it. But in other cases only the judgment day will reveal the terrible truth. ²⁵ In the same way, everyone knows how much good some pastors do, but sometimes their good deeds aren’t known until long afterward.