M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Revolt of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram
16 Now Korah son of Izhar son of Kohath son of Levi, along with Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, and On son of Peleth son[a] of Reuben, took(A) 2 two hundred fifty Israelite men, leaders of the congregation, chosen from the assembly, well-known men, and they confronted Moses.(B) 3 They assembled against Moses and against Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! All the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. So why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”(C) 4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face.(D) 5 Then he spoke to Korah and all his congregation, saying, “In the morning the Lord will make known who is his and who is holy and who will be allowed to approach him; the one whom he will choose he will allow to approach him.(E) 6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all your[b] congregation, 7 and tomorrow put fire in them, and lay incense on them before the Lord, and the man whom the Lord chooses shall be the holy one. You Levites have gone too far!” 8 Then Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you Levites! 9 Is it too little for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel to allow you to approach him in order to perform the duties of the Lord’s tabernacle and to stand before the congregation and serve them?(F) 10 He has allowed you to approach him, and all your brother Levites with you, yet you seek the priesthood as well! 11 Therefore you and all your congregation have gathered together against the Lord. What is Aaron that you rail against him?”(G)
12 Moses sent for Dathan and Abiram sons of Eliab, but they said, “We will not come! 13 Is it too little that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness, that you must also lord it over us?(H) 14 It is clear you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey or given us an inheritance of fields and vineyards. Would you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come!”(I)
15 Moses was very angry and said to the Lord, “Pay no attention to their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed any one of them.”(J) 16 And Moses said to Korah, “As for you and all your congregation, be present tomorrow before the Lord, you and they and Aaron,(K) 17 and let each one of you take his censer and put incense on it and each one of you present his censer before the Lord, two hundred fifty censers, you also, and Aaron, each his censer.” 18 So each man took his censer, and they put fire in the censers and laid incense on them, and they stood at the entrance of the tent of meeting with Moses and Aaron. 19 Then Korah assembled the whole congregation against them at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And the glory of the Lord appeared to the whole congregation.(L)
20 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying, 21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.”(M) 22 They fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one person sin and you become angry with the whole congregation?”(N)
23 And the Lord spoke to Moses: 24 “Speak to the congregation, saying: Get away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.” 25 So Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram; the elders of Israel followed him. 26 He spoke to the congregation, saying, “Turn away from the tents of these wicked men and touch nothing of theirs, or you will be swept away for all their sins.”(O) 27 So they got away from the dwellings of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, and Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the entrances of their tents, together with their wives, their children, and their little ones. 28 And Moses said, “This is how you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord:(P) 29 If these people die a natural death or if a natural fate comes on them, then the Lord has not sent me. 30 But if the Lord creates something new and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”(Q)
31 As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart.(R) 32 The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their households—everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods.(S) 33 So they with all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 34 All Israel around them fled at their outcry, for they said, “The earth will swallow us, too!” 35 And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the two hundred fifty men offering the incense.(T)
36 [c]Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 37 “Tell Eleazar son of Aaron the priest to take the censers out of the blaze, then scatter the fire far and wide. 38 For the censers of these sinners have become holy at the cost of their lives. Make them into hammered plates as a covering for the altar, for they presented them before the Lord and they became holy. Thus they shall be a sign to the Israelites.”(U) 39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers that had been presented by those who were burned, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar— 40 a reminder to the Israelites that no outsider, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, shall approach to offer incense before the Lord, so as not to become like Korah and his congregation, just as the Lord had said to him through Moses.(V)
41 On the next day, however, the whole congregation of the Israelites rebelled against Moses and against Aaron, saying, “You have killed the people of the Lord.”(W) 42 And when the congregation had assembled against them, Moses and Aaron turned toward the tent of meeting; the cloud had covered it, and the glory of the Lord appeared.(X) 43 Then Moses and Aaron came to the front of the tent of meeting, 44 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 45 “Get away from this congregation, so that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.(Y) 46 Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, put fire on it from the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them. For wrath has gone out from the Lord; the plague has begun.”(Z) 47 So Aaron took it as Moses had ordered and ran into the middle of the assembly, where the plague had already begun among the people. He put on the incense and made atonement for the people.(AA) 48 He stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.(AB) 49 Those who died by the plague were fourteen thousand seven hundred, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.(AC) 50 When the plague was stopped, Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
Psalm 52
Judgment on the Deceitful
To the leader. A Maskil of David, when Doeg the Edomite came to Saul and said to him, “David has come to the house of Ahimelech.”
1 Why do you boast, O mighty one,
of mischief done against the godly?[a]
All day long(A) 2 you are plotting destruction.
Your tongue is like a sharp razor,
you worker of treachery.(B)
3 You love evil more than good
and lying more than speaking the truth. Selah(C)
4 You love all words that devour,
O deceitful tongue.(D)
5 But God will break you down forever;
he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah(E)
6 The righteous will see and fear
and will laugh at the evildoer,[b] saying,(F)
7 “See the one who would not take
refuge in God
but trusted in abundant riches
and sought refuge in wealth!”[c](G)
8 But I am like a green olive tree
in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
forever and ever.(H)
9 I will thank you forever
because of what you have done.
In the presence of the faithful
I will proclaim[d] your name, for it is good.(I)
Psalm 53
Denunciation of Godlessness
To the leader: according to Mahalath. A Maskil of David.
1 Fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt; they commit abominable acts;
there is no one who does good.(J)
2 God looks down from heaven on humankind
to see if there are any who are wise,
who seek after God.(K)
3 They have all fallen away; they are all alike perverse;
there is no one who does good,
no, not one.(L)
4 Have they no knowledge, those evildoers,
who eat up my people as they eat bread
and do not call upon God?(M)
5 There they shall be in great terror,
in terror such as has not been.
For God will scatter the bones of the ungodly;[e]
they will be put to shame,[f] for God has rejected them.(N)
6 O that deliverance for Israel would come from Zion!
When God restores the fortunes of his people,
Jacob will rejoice; Israel will be glad.(O)
Psalm 54
Prayer for Vindication
To the leader: with stringed instruments. A Maskil of David, when the Ziphites went and told Saul, “David is in hiding among us.”
1 Save me, O God, by your name,
and vindicate me by your might.(P)
2 Hear my prayer, O God;
give ear to the words of my mouth.(Q)
3 For the insolent have risen against me;
the ruthless seek my life;
they do not set God before them. Selah(R)
A Vision of God in the Temple
6 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of his robe filled the temple.(A) 2 Seraphs were in attendance above him; each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, and with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.(B) 3 And one called to another and said,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory.”(C)
4 The pivots[a] on the thresholds shook at the voices of those who called, and the house filled with smoke. 5 And I said, “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”(D)
6 Then one of the seraphs flew to me, holding a live coal that had been taken from the altar with a pair of tongs. 7 The seraph[b] touched my mouth with it and said, “Now that this has touched your lips, your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.”(E) 8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And I said, “Here am I; send me!”(F) 9 And he said, “Go and say to this people:
‘Keep listening, but do not comprehend;
keep looking, but do not understand.’(G)
10 Make the mind of this people dull,
and stop their ears,
and shut their eyes,
so that they may not look with their eyes
and listen with their ears
and comprehend with their minds
and turn and be healed.”(H)
11 Then I said, “How long, O Lord?” And he said,
“Until cities lie waste
without inhabitant,
and houses without people,
and the land is utterly desolate;(I)
12 until the Lord sends everyone far away,
and vast is the emptiness in the midst of the land.(J)
13 Even if a tenth part remain in it,
it will be burned again,
like a terebinth or an oak
whose stump remains standing
when it is felled.”[c]
(The holy seed is its stump.)(K)
Service Well-Pleasing to God
13 Let mutual affection continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.(A) 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them, those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.[a] 4 Let marriage be held in honor by all, and let the marriage bed be kept undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers.(B) 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have, for he himself has said, “I will never leave you or forsake you.”(C) 6 So we can say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not be afraid.
What can anyone do to me?”
7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you; consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by regulations about food,[b] which have not benefited those who observe them.(D) 10 We have an altar from which those who officiate in the tent[c] have no right to eat.(E) 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.(F) 12 Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the city gate in order to sanctify the people by his own blood.(G) 13 Let us then go to him outside the camp and bear the abuse he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.(H) 15 Through him, then, let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.(I) 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with sighing, for that would be harmful to you.(J)
18 Pray for us; we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.(K) 19 I urge you all the more to do this, so that I may be restored to you very soon.
Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,(L) 21 make you complete in everything good[d] so that you may do his will, as he works among us[e] that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever.[f] Amen.(M)
Final Exhortation and Greetings
22 I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. 23 I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been set free, and if he comes in time he will be with me when I see you.(N) 24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings. 25 Grace be with all of you.[g](O)
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.