Formation Journal Reading Plan

17:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

17:2 Speak unto the children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod according to the house of [their] fathers, of all their princes according to the house of their fathers twelve rods: write thou every man’s name upon his rod.

17:3 And thou shalt write Aaron’s name upon the rod of Levi: for one rod [shall be] for the head of the house of their fathers.

17:4 And thou shalt lay them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the testimony, where I will meet with you.

17:5 And it shall come to pass, [that] the man’s rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom: and I will make to cease from me the murmurings of the children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you.

17:6 And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one, according to their fathers’ houses, [even] twelve rods: and the rod of Aaron [was] among their rods.

17:7 And Moses laid up the rods before the LORD in the tabernacle of witness.

17:8 And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

17:9 And Moses brought out all the rods from before the LORD unto all the children of Israel: and they looked, and took every man his rod.

17:10 And the LORD said unto Moses, Bring Aaron’s rod again before the testimony, to be kept for a token against the rebels; and thou shalt quite take away their murmurings from me, that they die not.

17:11 And Moses did [so]: as the LORD commanded him, so did he.

17:12 And the children of Israel spake unto Moses, saying, Behold, we die, we perish, we all perish.

17:13 Whosoever cometh any thing near unto the tabernacle of the LORD shall die: shall we be consumed with dying?

18:1 And the LORD said unto Aaron, Thou and thy sons and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity of your priesthood.

18:2 And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee [shall minister] before the tabernacle of witness.

18:3 And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

18:4 And they shall be joined unto thee, and keep the charge of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger shall not come nigh unto you.

18:5 And ye shall keep the charge of the sanctuary, and the charge of the altar: that there be no wrath any more upon the children of Israel.

18:6 And I, behold, I have taken your brethren the Levites from among the children of Israel: to you [they are] given [as] a gift for the LORD, to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

18:7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office [unto you as] a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.

18:8 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Behold, I also have given thee the charge of mine heave offerings of all the hallowed things of the children of Israel; unto thee have I given them by reason of the anointing, and to thy sons, by an ordinance for ever.

18:9 This shall be thine of the most holy things, [reserved] from the fire: every oblation of theirs, every meat offering of theirs, and every sin offering of theirs, and every trespass offering of theirs, which they shall render unto me, [shall be] most holy for thee and for thy sons.

18:10 In the most holy [place] shalt thou eat it; every male shall eat it: it shall be holy unto thee.

18:11 And this [is] thine; the heave offering of their gift, with all the wave offerings of the children of Israel: I have given them unto thee, and to thy sons and to thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: every one that is clean in thy house shall eat of it.

18:12 All the best of the oil, and all the best of the wine, and of the wheat, the firstfruits of them which they shall offer unto the LORD, them have I given thee.

18:13 [And] whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring unto the LORD, shall be thine; every one that is clean in thine house shall eat [of] it.

18:14 Every thing devoted in Israel shall be thine.

18:15 Every thing that openeth the matrix in all flesh, which they bring unto the LORD, [whether it be] of men or beasts, shall be thine: nevertheless the firstborn of man shalt thou surely redeem, and the firstling of unclean beasts shalt thou redeem.

18:16 And those that are to be redeemed from a month old shalt thou redeem, according to thine estimation, for the money of five shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, which [is] twenty gerahs.

18:17 But the firstling of a cow, or the firstling of a sheep, or the firstling of a goat, thou shalt not redeem; they [are] holy: thou shalt sprinkle their blood upon the altar, and shalt burn their fat [for] an offering made by fire, for a sweet savour unto the LORD.

18:18 And the flesh of them shall be thine, as the wave breast and as the right shoulder are thine.

18:19 All the heave offerings of the holy things, which the children of Israel offer unto the LORD, have I given thee, and thy sons and thy daughters with thee, by a statute for ever: it [is] a covenant of salt for ever before the LORD unto thee and to thy seed with thee.

18:20 And the LORD spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their land, neither shalt thou have any part among them: I [am] thy part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel.

18:21 And, behold, I have given the children of Levi all the tenth in Israel for an inheritance, for their service which they serve, [even] the service of the tabernacle of the congregation.

18:22 Neither must the children of Israel henceforth come nigh the tabernacle of the congregation, lest they bear sin, and die.

18:23 But the Levites shall do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they shall bear their iniquity: [it shall be] a statute for ever throughout your generations, that among the children of Israel they have no inheritance.

18:24 But the tithes of the children of Israel, which they offer [as] an heave offering unto the LORD, I have given to the Levites to inherit: therefore I have said unto them, Among the children of Israel they shall have no inheritance.

18:25 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

18:26 Thus speak unto the Levites, and say unto them, When ye take of the children of Israel the tithes which I have given you from them for your inheritance, then ye shall offer up an heave offering of it for the LORD, [even] a tenth [part] of the tithe.

18:27 And [this] your heave offering shall be reckoned unto you, as though [it were] the corn of the threshingfloor, and as the fulness of the winepress.

18:28 Thus ye also shall offer an heave offering unto the LORD of all your tithes, which ye receive of the children of Israel; and ye shall give thereof the LORD’S heave offering to Aaron the priest.

18:29 Out of all your gifts ye shall offer every heave offering of the LORD, of all the best thereof, [even] the hallowed part thereof out of it.

18:30 Therefore thou shalt say unto them, When ye have heaved the best thereof from it, then it shall be counted unto the Levites as the increase of the threshingfloor, and as the increase of the winepress.

18:31 And ye shall eat it in every place, ye and your households: for it [is] your reward for your service in the tabernacle of the congregation.

18:32 And ye shall bear no sin by reason of it, when ye have heaved from it the best of it: neither shall ye pollute the holy things of the children of Israel, lest ye die.

89:1 Maschil of Ethan the Ezrahite. I will sing of the mercies of the LORD for ever: with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations.

89:2 For I have said, Mercy shall be built up for ever: thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.

89:3 I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto David my servant,

89:4 Thy seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah.

89:5 And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints.

89:6 For who in the heaven can be compared unto the LORD? [who] among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the LORD?

89:7 God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all [them that are] about him.

89:8 O LORD God of hosts, who [is] a strong LORD like unto thee? or to thy faithfulness round about thee?

89:9 Thou rulest the raging of the sea: when the waves thereof arise, thou stillest them.

89:10 Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces, as one that is slain; thou hast scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm.

89:11 The heavens [are] thine, the earth also [is] thine: [as for] the world and the fulness thereof, thou hast founded them.

89:12 The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name.

89:13 Thou hast a mighty arm: strong is thy hand, [and] high is thy right hand.

89:14 Justice and judgment [are] the habitation of thy throne: mercy and truth shall go before thy face.

89:15 Blessed [is] the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.

89:16 In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

89:17 For thou [art] the glory of their strength: and in thy favour our horn shall be exalted.

89:18 For the LORD [is] our defence; and the Holy One of Israel [is] our king.

89:19 Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon [one that is] mighty; I have exalted [one] chosen out of the people.

89:20 I have found David my servant; with my holy oil have I anointed him:

89:21 With whom my hand shall be established: mine arm also shall strengthen him.

89:22 The enemy shall not exact upon him; nor the son of wickedness afflict him.

89:23 And I will beat down his foes before his face, and plague them that hate him.

89:24 But my faithfulness and my mercy [shall be] with him: and in my name shall his horn be exalted.

89:25 I will set his hand also in the sea, and his right hand in the rivers.

89:26 He shall cry unto me, Thou [art] my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.

89:27 Also I will make him [my] firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth.

89:28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.

89:29 His seed also will I make [to endure] for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven.

89:30 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments;

89:31 If they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments;

89:32 Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with stripes.

89:33 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him, nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.

89:34 My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.

89:35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.

89:36 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me.

89:37 It shall be established for ever as the moon, and [as] a faithful witness in heaven. Selah.

1:1 Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us,

1:2 Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

1:3 It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

1:4 That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.

1:5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judaea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the course of Abia: and his wife [was] of the daughters of Aaron, and her name [was] Elisabeth.

1:6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

1:7 And they had no child, because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were [now] well stricken in years.

1:8 And it came to pass, that while he executed the priest’s office before God in the order of his course,

1:9 According to the custom of the priest’s office, his lot was to burn incense when he went into the temple of the Lord.

1:10 And the whole multitude of the people were praying without at the time of incense.

1:11 And there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord standing on the right side of the altar of incense.

1:12 And when Zacharias saw [him], he was troubled, and fear fell upon him.

1:13 But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

1:14 And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

1:15 For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.

1:16 And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

1:17 And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.

1:18 And Zacharias said unto the angel, Whereby shall I know this? for I am an old man, and my wife well stricken in years.

1:19 And the angel answering said unto him, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God; and am sent to speak unto thee, and to shew thee these glad tidings.

1:20 And, behold, thou shalt be dumb, and not able to speak, until the day that these things shall be performed, because thou believest not my words, which shall be fulfilled in their season.

1:21 And the people waited for Zacharias, and marvelled that he tarried so long in the temple.

1:22 And when he came out, he could not speak unto them: and they perceived that he had seen a vision in the temple: for he beckoned unto them, and remained speechless.

1:23 And it came to pass, that, as soon as the days of his ministration were accomplished, he departed to his own house.

1:24 And after those days his wife Elisabeth conceived, and hid herself five months, saying,

1:25 Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein he looked on [me], to take away my reproach among men.