M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Various Offerings
15 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you,(A) 3 and you make an offering by fire[a] to the Lord from the herd or from the flock—whether a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed festivals—to make a pleasing odor for the Lord,(B) 4 then whoever presents such an offering to the Lord shall present also a grain offering, one-tenth of an ephah of choice flour, mixed with one-fourth of a hin of oil.(C) 5 Moreover, you shall offer one-fourth of a hin of wine as a drink offering with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb.(D) 6 For a ram, you shall offer a grain offering, two-tenths of an ephah of choice flour mixed with one-third of a hin of oil,(E) 7 and as a drink offering you shall offer one-third of a hin of wine, a pleasing odor to the Lord. 8 When you offer a bull as a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow or as an offering of well-being to the Lord,(F) 9 then you shall present with the bull a grain offering, three-tenths of an ephah of choice flour, mixed with half a hin of oil,(G) 10 and you shall present as a drink offering half a hin of wine, as an offering by fire,[b] a pleasing odor to the Lord.
11 “Thus it shall be done for each ox or ram or for each of the male lambs or the kids. 12 According to the number that you offer, so you shall do with each and every one. 13 Every native Israelite shall do these things in this way, in presenting an offering by fire,[c] a pleasing odor to the Lord. 14 An alien who lives with you or who takes up permanent residence among you and wishes to offer an offering by fire,[d] a pleasing odor to the Lord, shall do as you do. 15 As for the assembly, there shall be for both you and the resident alien a single statute, a perpetual statute throughout your generations; you and the alien shall be alike before the Lord.(H) 16 You and the alien who resides with you shall have the same law and the same ordinance.”
17 The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 18 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: After you come into the land to which I am bringing you,(I) 19 whenever you eat of the bread of the land you shall present a donation to the Lord.(J) 20 From your first batch of dough you shall present a loaf as a donation; you shall present it just as you present a donation from the threshing floor.(K) 21 Throughout your generations you shall give to the Lord a donation from the first of your batch of dough.
22 “But if you unintentionally fail to observe all these commandments that the Lord has spoken to Moses(L)— 23 everything that the Lord has commanded you by Moses, from the day the Lord gave commandment and thereafter, throughout your generations— 24 then if it was done unintentionally without the knowledge[e] of the congregation, the whole congregation shall offer one young bull for a burnt offering, a pleasing odor to the Lord, together with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one male goat for a purification offering.(M) 25 The priest shall make atonement for all the congregation of the Israelites, and they shall be forgiven; it was unintentional, and they have brought their offering, an offering by fire[f] to the Lord, and their purification offering before the Lord, for their error.(N) 26 All the congregation of the Israelites shall be forgiven, as well as the aliens residing among you, because the whole people was involved in the error.
27 “An individual who sins unintentionally shall present a female goat a year old for a purification offering.(O) 28 And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the one who commits an error, when it is unintentional, to make atonement for the person, who then shall be forgiven.(P) 29 For both the native among the Israelites and the alien residing among you, you shall have the same law for anyone who acts in error.(Q) 30 But whoever acts high-handedly, whether native-born or an alien, affronts the Lord and shall be cut off from among the people. 31 Because of having despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment, such a person shall be utterly cut off and bear the guilt.”(R)
Penalty for Violating the Sabbath
32 When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day.(S) 33 Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation. 34 They put him in custody because it was not clear what should be done to him.(T) 35 Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.”(U) 36 The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
Fringes on Garments
37 The Lord said to Moses, 38 “Speak to the Israelites, and tell them to make fringes on the corners of their garments throughout their generations and to put a blue cord on the fringe at each corner.(V) 39 You have the fringe so that, when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them and not follow the lust of your own heart and your own eyes.(W) 40 So you shall remember and do all my commandments, and you shall be holy to your God.(X) 41 I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”
Psalm 51
Prayer for Cleansing and Pardon
To the leader. A Psalm of David, when the prophet Nathan came to him, after he had gone in to Bathsheba.
1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy,
blot out my transgressions.(A)
2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
and cleanse me from my sin.(B)
3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is ever before me.(C)
4 Against you, you alone, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are justified in your sentence
and blameless when you pass judgment.(D)
5 Indeed, I was born guilty,
a sinner when my mother conceived me.(E)
6 You desire truth in the inward being;[a]
therefore teach me wisdom in my secret heart.(F)
7 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.(G)
8 Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones that you have crushed rejoice.(H)
9 Hide your face from my sins,
and blot out all my iniquities.(I)
10 Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right[b] spirit within me.(J)
11 Do not cast me away from your presence,
and do not take your holy spirit from me.(K)
12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
and sustain in me a willing[c] spirit.(L)
13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
and sinners will return to you.(M)
14 Deliver me from bloodshed, O God,
O God of my salvation,
and my tongue will sing aloud of your deliverance.(N)
The Song of the Unfruitful Vineyard
5 I will sing for my beloved
my love song concerning his vineyard:
My beloved had a vineyard
on a very fertile hill.(A)
2 He dug it and cleared it of stones
and planted it with choice vines;
he built a watchtower in the midst of it
and hewed out a wine vat in it;
he expected it to yield grapes,
but it yielded rotten grapes.(B)
3 And now, inhabitants of Jerusalem
and people of Judah,
judge between me
and my vineyard.(C)
4 What more was there to do for my vineyard
that I have not done in it?
When I expected it to yield grapes,
why did it yield rotten grapes?(D)
5 And now I will tell you
what I will do to my vineyard.
I will remove its hedge,
and it shall be devoured;
I will break down its wall,
and it shall be trampled down.(E)
6 I will make it a wasteland;
it shall not be pruned or hoed,
and it shall be overgrown with briers and thorns;
I will also command the clouds
that they rain no rain upon it.(F)
7 For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the people of Judah
are his cherished garden;
he expected justice
but saw bloodshed;
righteousness
but heard a cry!(G)
Social Injustice Denounced
8 Woe to those who join house to house,
who add field to field,
until there is room for no one,
and you are left to live alone
in the midst of the land!(H)
9 The Lord of hosts has sworn in my hearing:
Surely many houses shall be desolate,
large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.(I)
10 For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath,
and a homer of seed shall yield a mere ephah.[a](J)
11 Woe to those who rise early in the morning
in pursuit of strong drink,
who linger in the evening
to be inflamed by wine,(K)
12 whose feasts consist of lyre and harp,
tambourine and flute and wine,
but who do not regard the deeds of the Lord
or see the work of his hands!(L)
13 Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge;
their nobles are dying of hunger,
and their multitude is parched with thirst.(M)
14 Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite
and opened its mouth beyond measure;
the nobility of Jerusalem[b] and her multitude go down,
her throng and all who exult in her.(N)
15 People are bowed down, everyone is brought low,
and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.(O)
16 But the Lord of hosts is exalted by justice,
and the Holy God shows himself holy by righteousness.(P)
17 Then the lambs shall graze as in their pasture;
fatted calves and kids[c] shall feed among the ruins.
18 Woe to those who drag iniquity along with cords of falsehood,
who drag sin along as with cart ropes,(Q)
19 who say, “Let him make haste;
let him speed his work
that we may see it;
let the plan of the Holy One of Israel hasten to fulfillment,
that we may know it!”(R)
20 Woe to those who call evil good
and good evil,
who put darkness for light
and light for darkness,
who put bitter for sweet
and sweet for bitter!(S)
21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes
and shrewd in their own sight!(T)
22 Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine
and valiant at mixing drink,(U)
23 who acquit the guilty for a bribe
and deprive the innocent of their rights!(V)
Foreign Invasion Predicted
24 Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble
and as dry grass sinks down in the flame,
so their root will become rotten,
and their blossom go up like dust,
for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of hosts
and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.(W)
25 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them;
the mountains quaked,
and their corpses were like refuse
in the streets.
For all this his anger has not turned away,
and his hand is stretched out still.(X)
26 He will raise a signal for a nation far away
and whistle for a people at the ends of the earth.
Here they come, swiftly, speedily!(Y)
27 None of them is weary; none stumbles;
none slumbers or sleeps;
not a loincloth is loose;
not a sandal strap broken;(Z)
28 their arrows are sharp;
all their bows strung;
their horses’ hoofs seem like flint,
and their wheels like the whirlwind.(AA)
29 Their roaring is like a lion;
like young lions they roar;
they growl and seize their prey;
they carry it off, and no one can rescue.(AB)
30 They will roar over it on that day,
like the roaring of the sea.
And if one look to the land—
only darkness and distress;
and the light grows dark with its clouds.(AC)
The Example of Jesus
12 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely,[a] and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us,(A) 2 looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith, who for the sake of[b] the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.(B)
3 Consider him who endured such hostility against himself from sinners,[c] so that you may not grow weary in your souls or lose heart.(C) 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as children—
“My child, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord
or lose heart when you are punished by him,(D)
6 for the Lord disciplines those whom he loves
and chastises every child whom he accepts.”(E)
7 Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God is treating you as children, for what child is there whom a parent does not discipline?(F) 8 If you do not have that discipline in which all children share, then you are illegitimate and not his children.(G) 9 Moreover, we had human parents to discipline us, and we respected them. Should we not be even more willing to be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share his holiness.(H) 11 Now, discipline always seems painful rather than pleasant at the time, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.(I)
12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees(J) 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.(K)
Warnings against Rejecting God’s Grace
14 Pursue peace with everyone and the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble and through it many become defiled.(L) 16 See to it that no one becomes an immoral and godless person, as Esau was, who sold his birthright for a single meal.(M) 17 You know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, even though he sought the blessing[d] with tears.(N)
18 You have not come to something[e] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,(O) 19 and the sound of a trumpet, and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that not another word be spoken to them.(P) 20 (For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned to death.”(Q) 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”)(R) 22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,(S) 23 and to the assembly[f] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,(T) 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.(U)
25 See that you do not refuse the one who is speaking, for if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less will we escape if we reject the one who warns from heaven!(V) 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.”(W) 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what is shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain.(X) 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable worship with reverence and awe, 29 for indeed our God is a consuming fire.(Y)
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.