M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Seven Lamps
8 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to Aaron and say to him: When you set up the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light in front of the lampstand.”(A) 3 Aaron did so; he set up its lamps in front of the lampstand, as the Lord had commanded Moses. 4 Now this was how the lampstand was made, out of hammered work of gold. From its base to its flowers, it was hammered work; according to the pattern that the Lord had shown Moses, so he made the lampstand.(B)
Consecration and Service of the Levites
5 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 6 “Take the Levites from among the Israelites and cleanse them. 7 Thus you shall do to them, to cleanse them: sprinkle the water of purification on them; have them shave their whole body with a razor and wash their clothes and so cleanse themselves.(C) 8 Then let them take a young bull and its grain offering of choice flour mixed with oil, and you shall take another young bull for a purification offering.(D) 9 You shall bring the Levites before the tent of meeting and assemble the whole congregation of the Israelites.(E) 10 When you bring the Levites before the Lord, the Israelites shall lay their hands on the Levites, 11 and Aaron shall present the Levites before the Lord as an elevation offering from the Israelites, that they may do the service of the Lord. 12 The Levites shall lay their hands on the heads of the bulls, and he shall offer the one for a purification offering and the other for a burnt offering to the Lord, to make atonement for the Levites.(F) 13 Then you shall have the Levites stand before Aaron and his sons, and you shall present them as an elevation offering to the Lord.
14 “Thus you shall separate the Levites from among the other Israelites, and the Levites shall be mine.(G) 15 Thereafter the Levites may go in to do service at the tent of meeting, once you have cleansed them and presented them as an elevation offering.(H) 16 For they are unreservedly given to me from among the Israelites; I have taken them for myself, in place of all that open the womb, the firstborn of all the Israelites.(I) 17 For all the firstborn among the Israelites are mine, both human and animal. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt I consecrated them for myself, 18 but I have taken the Levites in place of all the firstborn among the Israelites. 19 Moreover, I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and his sons from among the Israelites, to do the service for the Israelites at the tent of meeting and to make atonement for the Israelites, in order that there may be no plague among the Israelites for coming too close to the sanctuary.”(J)
20 Moses and Aaron and the whole congregation of the Israelites did with the Levites accordingly; the Israelites did with the Levites just as the Lord had commanded Moses concerning them. 21 The Levites purified themselves from sin and washed their clothes; then Aaron presented them as an elevation offering before the Lord, and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them.(K) 22 Thereafter the Levites went in to do their service in the tent of meeting in attendance on Aaron and his sons. As the Lord had commanded Moses concerning the Levites, so they did with them.
23 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 24 “This applies to the Levites: from twenty-five years old and up they shall begin to do duty in the service of the tent of meeting;(L) 25 and from the age of fifty years they shall retire from the duty of the service and serve no more. 26 They may assist their brothers in the tent of meeting in carrying out their duties, but they shall perform no service. Thus you shall do with the Levites in assigning their duties.”
Psalm 44
National Lament and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Maskil.
1 We have heard with our ears, O God;
our ancestors have told us
what deeds you performed in their days,
in the days of old:(A)
2 you with your own hand drove out the nations,
but them you planted;
you afflicted the peoples,
but them you set free;(B)
3 for not by their own sword did they win the land,
nor did their own arm give them victory,
but your right hand, and your arm,
and the light of your countenance,
for you delighted in them.(C)
4 You are my King and my God;
you command[a] victories for Jacob.
5 Through you we push down our foes;
through your name we tread down our assailants.(D)
6 For not in my bow do I trust,
nor can my sword save me.
7 But you have saved us from our foes
and have put to confusion those who hate us.(E)
8 In God we have boasted continually,
and we will give thanks to your name forever. Selah(F)
9 Yet you have rejected us and shamed us
and have not gone out with our armies.(G)
10 You made us turn back from the foe,
and our enemies have gotten spoil.(H)
11 You have made us like sheep for slaughter
and have scattered us among the nations.(I)
12 You have sold your people for a trifle,
demanding no high price for them.(J)
13 You have made us the taunt of our neighbors,
the derision and scorn of those around us.(K)
14 You have made us a byword among the nations,
a laughingstock[b] among the peoples.(L)
15 All day long my disgrace is before me,
and shame has covered my face
16 at the words of the taunters and revilers,
at the sight of the enemy and the avenger.(M)
17 All this has come upon us,
yet we have not forgotten you
or been false to your covenant.(N)
18 Our heart has not turned back,
nor have our steps departed from your way,(O)
19 yet you have broken us in the haunt of jackals
and covered us with deep darkness.(P)
20 If we had forgotten the name of our God
or spread out our hands to a strange god,(Q)
21 would not God discover this?
For he knows the secrets of the heart.(R)
22 Because of you we are being killed all day long
and accounted as sheep for the slaughter.(S)
23 Rouse yourself! Why do you sleep, O Lord?
Awake, do not cast us off forever!(T)
24 Why do you hide your face?
Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?(U)
25 For we sink down to the dust;
our bodies cling to the ground.(V)
26 Rise up, come to our help.
Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love.(W)
6 Where has your beloved gone,
O fairest among women?
Which way has your beloved turned
that we may seek him with you?(A)
2 My beloved has gone down to his garden,
to the beds of spices,
to pasture his flock in the gardens
and to gather lilies.(B)
3 I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine;
he pastures his flock among the lilies.(C)
The Young Woman’s Matchless Beauty
4 You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,
comely as Jerusalem,
terrible as an army with banners.(D)
5 Turn away your eyes from me,
for they overwhelm me!
Your hair is like a flock of goats,
moving down the slopes of Gilead.(E)
6 Your teeth are like a flock of ewes
that have come up from the washing;
all of them bear twins,
and not one among them is bereaved.(F)
7 Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate
behind your veil.(G)
8 There are sixty queens and eighty concubines
and maidens without number.(H)
9 My dove, my perfect one, is the only one,
the darling of her mother,
flawless to her who bore her.
The maidens saw her and called her happy;
the queens and concubines praised her.(I)
10 “Who is this that looks forth like the dawn,
fair as the moon, bright as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners?”(J)
11 I went down to the nut orchard
to look at the blossoms of the valley,
to see whether the vines had budded,
whether the pomegranates were in bloom.(K)
12 Before I was aware, my desire set me
in a chariot beside my prince.[a]
13 [b]Return, return, O Shulammite!
Return, return, that we may look upon you.
The Peril of Falling Away
6 Therefore let us go on[a] toward perfection,[b] leaving behind the basic teaching about Christ and not laying again the foundation: repentance from dead works and faith toward God,(A) 2 instruction about baptisms and laying on of hands, resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment.(B) 3 And we will do[c] this, if God permits. 4 For it is impossible to restore again to repentance those who have once been enlightened and have tasted the heavenly gift and have shared in the Holy Spirit(C) 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come(D) 6 and then have fallen away, since they are crucifying again the Son of God to their own harm and are holding him up to contempt.(E) 7 Ground that drinks up the rain falling on it repeatedly and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is cultivated receives a blessing from God.(F) 8 But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and on the verge of being cursed; its end is to be burned over.(G)
9 Even though we speak in this way, beloved, we are confident of better things in your case, things that belong to salvation. 10 For God is not unjust; he will not overlook your work and the[d] love that you showed for his sake[e] in serving the saints, as you still do.(H) 11 And we want each one of you to show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope to the very end,(I) 12 so that you may not become sluggish but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.(J)
The Certainty of God’s Promise
13 When God made a promise to Abraham, because he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself,(K) 14 saying, “I will surely bless you and multiply you.” 15 And thus Abraham,[f] having patiently endured, obtained the promise. 16 Humans, of course, swear by someone greater than themselves, and an oath given as confirmation puts an end to all dispute among them.(L) 17 In the same way, when God desired to show even more clearly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it by an oath,(M) 18 so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible that God would prove false, we who have taken refuge might be strongly encouraged to seize the hope set before us.(N) 19 We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain,(O) 20 where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.(P)
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.