M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Parashat Chukat
Red Heifer and Cleansing Water
19 Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron saying, 2 “This is the statute of the Torah which Adonai commanded saying: Speak to Bnei-Yisrael that they bring to you a flawless red heifer on which there is no blemish and on which has never been a yoke. 3 Give her to Eleazar the kohen. He will take her outside the camp and slaughter her in his presence. 4 Then Eleazar the kohen is to take some of the blood on his finger and sprinkle it seven times toward the front of the Tent of Meeting.
5 “While watching, he is to burn the heifer, her hide, flesh, blood and refuse. 6 The kohen is to take some cedar wood, hyssop and scarlet wool, and cast them into the midst of the burning heifer.
7 “Afterward, the kohen is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and afterward he may come back into the camp. Still the kohen will be unclean until evening. 8 Also the one burning it is to wash his clothes and bathe his flesh with the water, and he will be unclean until evening.
9 “A clean man is to gather up the ashes of the heifer and put them in a clean place outside the camp. They are to be for the community of Bnei-Yisrael to use as water of purification from sin.
10 “The one who gathers the heifer’s ashes is also to wash his clothes as well as be unclean until evening. It will be a permanent statute for Bnei-Yisrael and for the outsider living among them.
11 “Whoever touches any dead body will be unclean for seven days. 12 He is to purify himself on the third day and on the seventh day. Then he will be clean. But if he does not purify himself on the third and seventh days, he will not be clean. 13 Anyone touching the dead body of any man, who does not purify himself, defiles Adonai’s Tabernacle, and that person will be cut off from Israel. Because the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him, he is unclean and his uncleanness will remain on him.
14 “This is the Torah for whenever a person dies in a tent. Anyone entering the tent or anyone inside the tent will be unclean seven days. 15 Any open container not having a lid fastened on it will also be unclean. 16 Anyone out in the open field who touches a dead body, whether killed by a sword or was killed by a natural cause, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
17 “For the unclean one, they are to take some of the ash of the burnt purification offering, and pour some fresh water into a jar. 18 Then a clean person will take some hyssop, dip it into the water, and, sprinkle it on the tent, all of the furnishings, and the people who were there, as well as the one touching the bone, the one killed, the corpse or the grave.
19 The clean person will sprinkle the unclean one on the third and seventh days. He is to purify himself on the seventh day, and on the seventh day he is to wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and at evening he will be clean.
20 However, that man who is unclean but does not purify himself will be cut off from the community. He has defiled the Sanctuary of Adonai, since the cleansing water was not sprinkled on him. He is unclean. 21 This will be a permanent ordinance for them. The one sprinkling the cleansing water is also to wash his clothes, and anyone touching the cleansing water will be unclean until evening. 22 Anything touched by an unclean person becomes unclean, and anyone touching it will be unclean until evening.”
In God I Trust
Psalm 56
1 For the music director: “A Silent Dove Far Away,” a Michtam of David, when the Philistines had seized him in Gath.
2 Be gracious to me, O God!
For man has crushed me,
fighting all day he oppresses me.
3 My foes trample me all day.
For many are fighting me arrogantly.
4 In a day when I am afraid,
I will put my trust in You.
5 In God—I keep praising His word—
in God I trust, I will not fear.
What can mere flesh do to me?
6 All day they twist my words.
All their thoughts are against me for evil.
7 They stir up strife; they lie hidden.
They mark my steps, eager to take my soul.
8 In spite of such sin, will they escape?
In fierce anger, O God, cast down such people!
9 You have recorded my wanderings.
You put my tears in Your bottle.
Are they not in Your book?
10 Then my enemies will turn back in the day I call.
This I know—that God is for me.
11 In God—I keep praising His word—
in Adonai—I keep praising His word—
12 in God I trust, I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
13 I am under vows to You, O God.
I will present thank offerings to You.
14 For You have delivered my soul from death
and my feet from stumbling,
that I may walk before God in the light of life.
Be Exalted Over All the Earth
Psalm 57
1 For the music director, “Do Not Destroy,” a Michtam of David, when he fled from Saul, in the cave.
2 Be gracious to me, O God, be gracious to me,
for in You my soul takes refuge.
In the shadow of Your wings I take refuge,
until destruction passes by.
3 I will cry out to El Elyon,
to God who accomplishes it for me.
4 He will send from heaven and save me.
He rebukes the one trampling on me. Selah
God is sending His mercy and His truth.
5 My soul is in the midst of lions.
I lie among those breathing fire—
sons of men whose teeth are spears and arrows,
whose tongue is a sharp sword.
6 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be over all the earth!
7 They spread a net for my steps,
my soul is bowed down.
They have dug a pit before me—
they fell into it themselves. Selah
8 My heart is steadfast, O God,
my heart is steadfast.
I will sing, yes, I will make music.
9 Awake, my glory! Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
10 I will praise You, my Lord, among the peoples.
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
11 For Your lovingkindness is great up to the heavens,
and Your truth to the skies.
12 Be exalted, O God, above the heavens.
Let Your glory be over all the earth!
Assyria Will Rise to Judah’s Neck
8 Then Adonai said to me: “Take yourself a great tablet, and write on it with a man’s stylus: ‘Maher-shalal-hashbaz[a].’” 2 So I took for myself trustworthy witnesses—Uriah the kohen and Zechariah son of Jeberechiah.
3 Then I went to the prophetess; and she conceived and bore a son. Then Adonai said to me: “Call his name Maher-shalal-hashbaz. 4 For before the child will have knowledge to cry ‘my father!’ or ‘my mother!’ the wealth of Damascus and the spoil of Samaria will be carried away before the king of Assyria.” 5 Then Adonai spoke to me further, saying:
6 “Because these people have refused
the softly flowing waters of Shiloah,
and rejoice with Rezin and Remaliah’s son,
7 therefore behold, Adonai is bringing on them
the waters of the River—mighty and massive—
Assyria’s king with all his glory!
It will rise over all its channels
and spill over all its banks.
8 Then it will sweep through Judah,
overflow as it passes through,
reaching even to the neck!
So the spread of its wings will be
the full breadth of your land!
Immanuel!
9 Make an uproar, O peoples—
but you will be broken in pieces.
Give ear, all you of far countries.
Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!
Arm yourselves—yet be shattered!
10 Take counsel together,
but it will amount to nothing.
Speak a word, but it will not stand.
For God is with us!
11 For thus Adonai spoke to me, with a strong hand, warning me that I should not walk in the way of these people, saying: 12 “Do not say: ‘It’s a conspiracy!’ about everything that these people call a conspiracy. You must not fear or tremble at what they fear.
13 Adonai-Tzva’ot, Him will you sanctify,
and let Him be your fear, trembling at Him.
14 He will be a Sanctuary,
but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence[b]
to both the houses of Israel,
a trap and a snare
to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
15 Many among them will stumble,
fall, and be broken,
snared and caught.
16 Bind up the testimony,
seal the instruction with My disciples.
17 I will wait for Adonai,
who is hiding His face from the house of Jacob,
and I will look eagerly for Him.
18 Here I am with the children that Adonai has given me as signs and wonders in Israel, from Adonai-Tzva’ot who dwells on Mount Zion. 19 When they say to you: “Consult the mediums and necromancers who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people seek their God? Should a people consult the dead on behalf of the living? 20 To Torah and to the testimony!
If they do not speak according to this word, it is because they have no light. 21 They will pass this way that are hard-pressed and hungry, and it will turn out that when they are hungry, they will become enraged and curse their king and their God. Whether they turn their faces upward 22 or look to the earth, behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish, and they will be driven into darkness.
A Great Light in Galilee
23 But there is no gloom to her[c]
who was in anguish, as in time past.
He treated lightly the land of Zebulun
and the land of Naphtali,
but in the future He will bring glory—
by the way of the sea,
beyond the Jordan—
Galilee of the Gentiles.
9 The people walking in darkness
will see a great light.
Upon those dwelling in the land of the shadow of death,
light will shine.[d]
2 You will multiply the nation.
You will increase the joy.
They will rejoice before You
like the joy in the harvest,
as they revel when they divide spoil.
3 For You will break the burdensome yoke
and the rod on his shoulder—
the war-club of his oppressor—
as in the day of Midian.
4 For every stomping boot quaking
and cloak rolled in blood
will be for burning—
fuel for the fire.
Prince of Peace
5 For to us a child is born,
a son will be given to us,[e]
and the government will be upon His shoulder.[f]
His Name will be called
Wonderful Counselor,[g]
Mighty God
My Father of Eternity,
Prince of Peace.[h]
6 Of the increase of His government
and shalom there will be no end—
on the throne of David and over His kingdom—
to establish it and uphold it
through justice and righteousness
from now until forevermore.[i]
The zeal of Adonai-Tzva’ot
will accomplish this.
Warning About Defiance
7 Adonai sent a word to Jacob,
and it fell upon Israel.
Honor the Poor Person
2 My brothers and sisters, do not hold the faith of our glorious Lord Yeshua the Messiah while showing favoritism. [a] 2 For if a man with a gold ring and fine clothes comes into your synagogue, and a poor person in filthy clothes also comes in; 3 and you pay special attention to the one wearing the fine clothing and you say, “Sit here in a good place”; and you say to the poor person, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool”; 4 haven’t you made distinctions between yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?
5 Listen, my dear brothers and sisters. Didn’t God choose the poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom that He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor person. Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court? 7 Don’t they blaspheme the good name by which you were called? 8 If, however, you fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. 9 But if you show favoritism, you are committing sin and are convicted by the Torah as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole Torah but stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. 11 For the one who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not commit murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a transgressor of the Torah. [b] 12 So speak and act as those who will be judged according to a Torah that gives freedom. 13 For judgment is merciless to the one who does not show mercy.[c] Mercy triumphs over judgment.
Show Faith with Works
14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says he has faith, but does not have works? Can such faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, 16 and one of you says to them, “Go in shalom, keep warm and well fed,” but you do not give them what the body needs, what good is that? 17 So also faith, if it does not have works, is dead by itself.
18 But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith without works and I will show you faith by my works. 19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe—and shudder! 20 But do you want to know, you empty person, that faith without works is dead? 21 Wasn’t Abraham our father proved righteous by works when he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? 22 You see that faith worked together with his works, and by the works his faith was made complete. 23 The Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness”[d]—and he was called God’s friend. [e] 24 You see that a man is proved righteous by works and not by faith alone. 25 And likewise, wasn’t Rahab the prostitute also proved righteous by works when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out another way? [f] 26 For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead.
Tree of Life (TLV) Translation of the Bible. Copyright © 2015 by The Messianic Jewish Family Bible Society.