M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Parashah 43: Masa‘ei (Stages) 33:1–36:13
[In regular years read with Parashah 42, in leap years read separately]
33 These are the stages in the journey of the people of Isra’el as they left the land of Egypt divided into groups under the leadership of Moshe and Aharon. 2 Moshe recorded each of the stages of their journey by order of Adonai ; here are the starting-points of each stage:
3 They began their journey from Ram’ses in the first month. On the fifteenth day of the first month, the morning after the Pesach, the people of Isra’el left proudly in view of all the Egyptians; 4 while the Egyptians were burying those among them whom Adonai had killed, all their firstborn; Adonai had also executed judgment on their gods. 5 The people of Isra’el moved on from Ram’ses and camped at Sukkot.
6 They moved on from Sukkot and camped at Etam, by the edge of the desert. 7 They moved on from Etam and turned back to Pi-Hachirot, in front of Ba‘al-Tz’fon, and camped before Migdol. 8 They moved on from P’nei-Hachirot, passed through the sea to the desert, continued three days’ journey into the Etam Desert and camped at Marah. 9 They moved on from Marah and came to Eilim; in Eilim were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, so they camped there. 10 They moved on from Eilim and camped by the Sea of Suf.
(LY: ii) 11 They moved on from the Sea of Suf and camped in the Seen Desert. 12 They moved on from the Seen Desert and camped at Dofkah. 13 They moved on from Dofkah and camped at Alush. 14 They moved on from Alush and camped at Refidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. 15 They moved on from Refidim and camped in the Sinai Desert. 16 They moved on from the Sinai Desert and camped at Kivrot-HaTa’avah. 17 They moved on from Kivrot-HaTa’avah and camped in Hatzerot. 18 They moved on from Hatzerot and camped at Ritmah. 19 They moved on from Ritmah and camped at Rimmon-Peretz. 20 They moved on from Rimmon-Peretz and camped at Livnah. 21 They moved on from Livnah and camped at Rissah. 22 They moved on from Rissah and camped at K’helah. 23 They moved on from K’helah and camped at Mount Shefer. 24 They moved on from Mount Shefer and camped at Haradah. 25 They moved on from Haradah and camped at Mak’helot. 26 They moved on from Mak’helot and camped at Tachat. 27 They moved on from Tachat and camped at Terach. 28 They moved on from Terach and camped at Mitkah. 29 They moved on from Mitkah and camped at HaShmonah. 30 They moved on from HaShmonah and camped at Moserot. 31 They moved on from Moserot and camped at B’nei-Ya‘akan. 32 They moved on from B’nei-Ya‘akan and camped at Hor-HaGidgad. 33 They moved on from Hor-HaGidgad and camped at Yotvatah. 34 They moved on from Yotvatah and camped at Avronah. 35 They moved on from Avronah and camped at ‘Etzyon-Gever. 36 They moved on from ‘Etzyon-Gever and camped in the Tzin Desert, that is, Kadesh.
37 They moved on from Kadesh and camped at Mount Hor, at the border of the land of Edom. 38 At Adonai’s order Aharon the cohen went up on Mount Hor, and he died there on the first day of the fifth month of the fortieth year after the people of Isra’el had left the land of Egypt. 39 Aharon was 123 years old when he died on Mount Hor. 40 The Kena‘ani king of ‘Arad, who lived in the Negev in the land of Kena‘an, had heard that the people of Isra’el were coming; 41 so they moved on from Mount Hor and camped at Tzalmonah.
42 They moved on from Tzalmonah and camped at Punon. 43 They moved on from Punon and camped at Ovot. 44 They moved on from Ovot and camped ‘Iyei-Ha‘Avarim, at the border of Mo’av. 45 They moved on from ‘Iyim and camped at Divon-Gad. 46 They moved on from Divon-Gad and camped at ‘Almon-Divlatayim. 47 They moved on from Almon-Divlatayim and camped in the ‘Avarim Range, in front of N’vo. 48 They moved on from the ‘Avarim Range and camped in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden, across from Yericho. 49 Their camp by the Yarden extended from Beit-HaYeshimot all the way to Avel-HaSheetim in the plains of Mo’av.
(RY: v; LY: iii) 50 Adonai spoke to Moshe in the plains of Mo’av by the Yarden, across from Yericho. He said 51 to tell the people of Isra’el, “When you cross the Yarden into the land of Kena‘an, 52 you are to expel all the people living in the land from in front of you. Destroy all their stone figures, destroy all their metal statues and demolish all their high places. 53 Drive out the inhabitants of the land, and live in it, for I have given the land to you to possess. 54 You will inherit the land by lot according to your families. You are to give more land to the larger families and less to the smaller ones. Wherever the lot falls to any particular person, that will be his property. You will inherit according to the tribes of your ancestors. 55 But if you don’t drive out the inhabitants of the land from in front of you, then those you allow to remain will become like thorns in your eyes and stings in your sides — they will harass you in the land where you are living. 56 And in this event, I will do to you what I intended to do to them.”
78 (0) A maskil of Asaf:
(1) Listen, my people, to my teaching;
turn your ears to the words from my mouth.
2 I will speak to you in parables
and explain mysteries from days of old.
3 The things which we have heard and known,
and which our fathers told us
4 we will not hide from their descendants;
we will tell the generation to come
the praises of Adonai and his strength,
the wonders that he has performed.
5 He raised up a testimony in Ya‘akov
and established a Torah in Isra’el.
He commanded our ancestors
to make this known to their children,
6 so that the next generation would know it,
the children not yet born,
who would themselves arise
and tell their own children,
7 who could then put their confidence in God,
not forgetting God’s deeds,
but obeying his mitzvot.
8 Then they would not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn, rebellious generation,
a generation with unprepared hearts,
with spirits unfaithful to God.
9 The people of Efrayim, though armed with bows and arrows,
turned their backs on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God
and refused to live by his Torah.
11 They forgot what he had done,
his wonders which he had shown them.
12 He had done wonderful things
in the presence of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt,
in the region of Tzo‘an.
13 He split the sea and made them pass through,
he made the waters stand up like a wall.
14 He also led them by day with a cloud
and all night long with light from a fire.
15 He broke apart the rocks in the desert
and let them drink as if from boundless depths;
16 yes, he brought streams out of the rock,
making the water flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High;
18 in their hearts they tested God
by demanding food that would satisfy their cravings.
19 Yes, they spoke against God by asking,
“Can God spread a table in the desert?
20 True, he struck the rock, and water gushed out,
until the vadis overflowed;
but what about bread? Can he give that?
Can he provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when Adonai heard, he was angry;
fire blazed up against Ya‘akov;
his anger mounted against Isra’el;
22 because they had no faith in God,
no trust in his power to save.
23 So he commanded the skies above
and opened the doors of heaven.
24 He rained down man on them as food;
he gave them grain from heaven —
25 mortals ate the bread of angels;
he provided for them to the full.
26 He stirred up the east wind in heaven,
brought on the south wind by his power,
27 and rained down meat on them like dust,
birds flying thick as the sand on the seashore.
28 He let them fall in the middle of their camp,
all around their tents.
29 So they ate till they were satisfied;
he gave them what they craved.
30 They were still fulfilling their craving,
the food was still in their mouths,
31 when the anger of God rose up against them
and slaughtered their strongest men,
laying low the young men of Isra’el.
32 Still, they kept on sinning
and put no faith in his wonders.
33 Therefore, he ended their days in futility
and their years in terror.
34 When he brought death among them, they would seek him;
they would repent and seek God eagerly,
35 remembering that God was their Rock,
El ‘Elyon their Redeemer.
36 But they tried to deceive him with their words,
they lied to him with their tongues;
37 for their hearts were not right with him,
and they were unfaithful to his covenant.
25 Adonai, you are my God.
I exalt you, I praise your name.
For you have accomplished marvels,
[fulfilled] ancient plans faithfully and truly.
2 For you have made a city a heap of stones,
turned a fortified city into rubble,
made the foreigners’ fortress
a city that will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore mighty peoples glorify you,
the city of ruthless nations fears you.
4 For you have been a refuge for the poor,
a refuge for the needy in distress,
shelter from the storm,
shade from the heat —
for the blast from the ruthless
was like a storm that could destroy a wall.
5 Like desert heat, you subdue
the foreigners’ uproar;
like heat subdued by a cloud’s shadow,
the song of the ruthless dies away.
6 On this mountain Adonai-Tzva’ot
will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food and superb wines,
delicious, rich food and superb, elegant wines.
7 On this mountain he will destroy
the veil which covers the face of all peoples,
the veil enshrouding all the nations.
8 He will swallow up death forever.
Adonai Elohim will wipe away
the tears from every face,
and he will remove from all the earth
the disgrace his people suffer.
For Adonai has spoken.
9 On that day they will say,
“See! This is our God!
We waited for him to save us.
This is Adonai ; we put our hope in him.
We are full of joy, so glad he saved us!”
10 For on this mountain
the hand of Adonai will rest.
But Mo’av will be trampled down where they are,
like straw trampled into a pile of manure.
11 They will spread out their hands in Mo’av,
like a swimmer using his hands to tread water;
but their pride will be humbled and sunk,
no matter how clever the strokes of their hands.
12 Your high, fortified walls he will level,
strike to the ground, lay in the dust.
3 See what love the Father has lavished on us in letting us be called God’s children! For that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it has not known him. 2 Dear friends, we are God’s children now; and it has not yet been made clear what we will become. We do know that when he appears, we will be like him; because we will see him as he really is.
3 And everyone who has this hope in him continues purifying himself, since God is pure. 4 Everyone who keeps sinning is violating Torah — indeed, sin is violation of Torah. 5 You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and that there is no sin in him. 6 So no one who remains united with him continues sinning; everyone who does continue sinning has neither seen him nor known him.
7 Children, don’t let anyone deceive you — it is the person that keeps on doing what is right who is righteous, just as God is righteous. 8 The person who keeps on sinning is from the Adversary, because from the very beginning the Adversary has kept on sinning. It was for this very reason that the Son of God appeared, to destroy these doings of the Adversary. 9 No one who has God as his Father keeps on sinning, because the seed planted by God remains in him. That is, he cannot continue sinning, because he has God as his Father. 10 Here is how one can distinguish clearly between God’s children and those of the Adversary: everyone who does not continue doing what is right is not from God.
Likewise, anyone who fails to keep loving his brother is not from God. 11 For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning: that we should love each other 12 and not be like Kayin, who was from the Evil One and murdered his own brother. Why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil, and his brother’s were righteous. 13 Don’t be amazed, brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We, for our part, know that we have passed from death to life because we keep loving the brothers. The person who fails to keep on loving is still under the power of death. 15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.
16 The way that we have come to know love is through his having laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers! 17 If someone has worldly possessions and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how can he be loving God? 18 Children, let us love not with words and talk, but with actions and in reality!
19 Here is how we will know that we are from the truth and will set our hearts at rest in his presence: 20 if our hearts know something against us, God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. 21 Dear friends, if our hearts know nothing against us, we have confidence in approaching God; 22 then, whatever we ask for, we receive from him; because we are obeying his commands and doing the things that please him.
23 This is his command: that we are to trust in the person and power of his Son Yeshua the Messiah and to keep loving one another, just as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands remain united with him and he with them.
Here is how we know that he remains united with us: by the Spirit whom he gave us.
Copyright © 1998 by David H. Stern. All rights reserved.