M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Lamp
24 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Command the Israelites to bring you pure oil of beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly.(A) 3 Aaron shall set it up in the tent of meeting, outside the curtain of the covenant, to burn from evening to morning before the Lord regularly; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations. 4 He shall set up the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold[a] before the Lord regularly.(B)
The Bread for the Tabernacle
5 “You shall take choice flour and bake twelve loaves of it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf.(C) 6 You shall place them in two rows, six in a row, on the table of pure gold before the Lord.[b](D) 7 You shall put pure frankincense with each row, to be a token offering for the bread, as an offering by fire[c] to the Lord. 8 Every Sabbath day Aaron shall set them in order before the Lord regularly as a commitment of the Israelites, as a covenant forever.(E) 9 They shall be for Aaron and his descendants, who shall eat them in a holy place, for they are most holy portions for him from the offerings by fire[d] to the Lord, a perpetual due.”(F)
Blasphemy and Its Punishment
10 A man whose mother was an Israelite and whose father was an Egyptian came out among the Israelites, and the Israelite woman’s son and a certain Israelite began fighting in the camp. 11 The Israelite woman’s son blasphemed the Name in a curse. And they brought him to Moses—now his mother’s name was Shelomith daughter of Dibri, of the tribe of Dan(G)— 12 and they put him in custody, until the decision of the Lord should be made clear to them.(H)
13 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 14 “Take the blasphemer outside the camp, and let all who were within hearing lay their hands on his head, and let the whole congregation stone him.(I) 15 And speak to the Israelites, saying: Anyone who curses God shall incur guilt. 16 One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as the native-born, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to death.(J) 17 Anyone who kills a human being shall be put to death.(K) 18 Anyone who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, life for life.(L) 19 Anyone who maims another shall suffer the same injury in return: 20 fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth; the injury inflicted is the injury to be suffered.(M) 21 One who kills an animal shall make restitution for it, but one who kills a human being shall be put to death.(N) 22 You shall have one law for the alien and for the native-born, for I am the Lord your God.”(O) 23 Moses spoke thus to the Israelites, and they took the blasphemer outside the camp and stoned him to death. The Israelites did as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Psalm 31
Prayer and Praise for Deliverance from Enemies
To the leader. A Psalm of David.
1 In you, O Lord, I seek refuge;
do not let me ever be put to shame;
in your righteousness deliver me.(A)
2 Incline your ear to me;
rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me,
a strong fortress to save me.(B)
3 You are indeed my rock and my fortress;
for your name’s sake lead me and guide me;(C)
4 take me out of the net that is hidden for me,
for you are my refuge.(D)
5 Into your hand I commit my spirit;
you have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.(E)
6 You hate[a] those who pay regard to worthless idols,
but I trust in the Lord.(F)
7 I will exult and rejoice in your steadfast love,
because you have seen my affliction;
you have taken notice of my adversities(G)
8 and have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy;
you have set my feet in a broad place.(H)
9 Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am in distress;
my eye wastes away from grief,
my soul and body also.
10 For my life is spent with sorrow
and my years with sighing;
my strength fails because of my misery,[b]
and my bones waste away.(I)
11 I am the scorn of all my adversaries,
a horror[c] to my neighbors,
an object of dread to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.(J)
12 I have passed out of mind like one who is dead;
I have become like a broken vessel.(K)
13 For I hear the whispering of many—
terror all around!—
as they scheme together against me,
as they plot to take my life.(L)
14 But I trust in you, O Lord;
I say, “You are my God.”(M)
15 My times are in your hand;
deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors.(N)
16 Let your face shine upon your servant;
save me in your steadfast love.(O)
17 Do not let me be put to shame, O Lord,
for I call on you;
let the wicked be put to shame;
let them go dumbfounded to Sheol.(P)
18 Let the lying lips be stilled
that speak insolently against the righteous
with pride and contempt.(Q)
19 O how abundant is your goodness
that you have laid up for those who fear you
and accomplished for those who take refuge in you,
in the sight of everyone!(R)
20 In the shelter of your presence you hide them
from human plots;
you hold them safe under your shelter
from contentious tongues.(S)
A Disillusioned View of Life
7 A good name is better than precious ointment,
and the day of death, than the day of birth.(A)
2 It is better to go to the house of mourning
than to go to the house of feasting,
for this is the end of everyone,
and the living will lay it to heart.(B)
3 Sorrow is better than laughter,
for by sadness of countenance the heart is made glad.(C)
4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning,
but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.
5 It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise
than to hear the song of fools.(D)
6 For like the crackling of thorns under a pot,
so is the laughter of fools;
this also is vanity.
7 Surely oppression makes the wise foolish,
and a bribe corrupts the heart.(E)
8 Better is the end of a thing than its beginning;
the patient in spirit are better than the proud in spirit.(F)
9 Do not be quick to anger,
for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.(G)
10 Do not say, “Why were the former days better than these?”
For it is not from wisdom that you ask this.
11 Wisdom is as good as an inheritance,
an advantage to those who see the sun.(H)
12 For the protection of wisdom is like the protection of money,
and the advantage of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to the one who possesses it.
13 Consider the work of God;
who can make straight what he has made crooked?(I)
14 In the day of prosperity, be joyful, and in the day of adversity, consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that mortals may not find out anything that comes after them.(J)
The Riddles of Life
15 In my vain life I have seen everything; there are righteous people who perish in their righteousness, and there are wicked people who prolong their life in their evildoing.(K) 16 Do not be too righteous, and do not act too wise; why should you destroy yourself?(L) 17 Do not be too wicked, and do not be a fool; why should you die before your time? 18 It is good that you should take hold of the one without letting go of the other, for the one who fears God shall succeed with both.
19 Wisdom gives strength to the wise more than ten rulers who are in a city.(M)
20 Surely there is no one on earth so righteous as to do good without ever sinning.(N)
21 Do not give heed to everything that people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you; 22 your heart knows that many times you have yourself cursed others.
23 All this I have tested by wisdom; I said, “I will be wise,” but it was far from me.(O) 24 That which is, is far off, and deep, very deep; who can find it out?(P) 25 I turned my mind to know and to search out and to seek wisdom and the sum of things and to know that wickedness is folly and that foolishness is madness.(Q) 26 I found more bitter than death the woman who is a trap, whose heart is nets, whose hands are fetters; one who pleases God escapes her, but the sinner is taken by her.(R) 27 See, this is what I found, says the Teacher, adding one thing to another to find the sum,(S) 28 which my mind has sought repeatedly, but I have not found. One man among a thousand I found, but a woman among all these I have not found. 29 See, this alone I found, that God made human beings straightforward, but they have devised many schemes.(T)
Godlessness in the Last Days
3 You must understand this, that in the last days distressing times will come. 2 For people will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy,(A) 3 unfeeling, implacable, slanderers, profligates, brutes, haters of good,(B) 4 treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,(C) 5 holding to the outward form of godliness but denying its power. Avoid them! 6 For among them are those who make their way into households and captivate immature women, overwhelmed by their sins and swayed by all kinds of desires,(D) 7 who are always studying yet never able to recognize truth. 8 As Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these people, of corrupt mind and counterfeit faith, also oppose the truth.(E) 9 But they will not make much progress because, as in the case of those two men,[a] their folly will become plain to everyone.
Paul’s Charge to Timothy
10 Now you have observed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness,(F) 11 my persecutions, and my sufferings, the things that happened to me in Antioch, Iconium, and Lystra. What persecutions I endured! Yet the Lord rescued me from all of them.(G) 12 Indeed, all who want to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.(H) 13 But wicked people and impostors will go from bad to worse, deceiving others and being deceived.(I) 14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it 15 and how from childhood you have known sacred writings that are able to instruct you for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All scripture is inspired by God and is[b] useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,(J) 17 so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.(K)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.