M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 21
Reign of Manasseh. 1 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.
2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, practicing the abominations of the nations whom the Lord cast out before the Israelites. 3 He rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah, his father, had destroyed. He raised up altars to Baal, and he made an Asherah, just as Ahab, the king of Israel, had done. He also worshiped the hosts of heaven[a] and served them. 4 He built altars in the temple of the Lord of which the Lord had stated, “I will place my name in Jerusalem.” 5 He built altars for the hosts of heaven in the two courts of the temple of the Lord. 6 He burned his son in flames, practiced witchcraft, used divination, and cooperated with mediums and wizards. He did horrible things in the sight of the Lord, provoking the Lord to anger. 7 He set up a carved image of the Asherah in the temple about which the Lord had said to David and to Solomon, his son, “In this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen from out of the tribes of Israel, I will place my name forever, 8 nor will I make the feet of Israel wander from the land that I have given to their fathers if only they will be careful to do everything that I have commanded them, everything according to the law that Moses, my servant, gave them.”
9 But they would not listen, and Manasseh enticed them to do more evil than the nations that the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites had done.
10 The Lord therefore spoke through his servant, the prophets, saying, 11 “Manasseh, the king of Judah, has committed these abominations, doing worse things than the Amorites who preceded him, causing Judah to sin with his idols. 12 Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing a terrible disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah that is so bad that the ears of those who hear about it will tingle. 13 [b]I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line that I used against Samaria and the plumb line I used against the house of Ahab. 14 I will wipe out Jerusalem as one wipes out a dish, wiping it out and turning it over. I will abandon the remnant of my inheritance, and I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies. They will be plunder and booty to all of their enemies 15 for they have done what is evil in my sight, provoking me to anger from the day that their fathers came forth from Egypt even up to the present day.”
16 Manasseh had shed so much blood that it covered Jerusalem from one end to the other. He caused Judah to sin, doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord.
17 As for the other deeds of Manasseh, what he did, and the sins that he committed, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
18 Manasseh slept with his fathers, and he was buried in his palace gardens, the Garden of Uzza.
Reign of Amon. Amon, his son, then reigned in his stead. 19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth. She was the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah.
20 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. 21 He walked in all of the ways of his father. He served the idols that his father had served, and he worshiped them. 22 He abandoned the Lord, the God of his fathers, and he did not walk in the ways of the Lord.
23 Amon’s servants plotted against him, and they killed him in his own palace. 24 The people of the land then plotted against all of those who killed King Ahab, and the people of the land made Josiah, his son, king in his stead.
25 As for the other deeds of Amon, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
26 He was buried in his own grave in the Garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah reigned in his stead.
A High Priest for Humanity[a]
Chapter 3
Christ’s Fidelity Is Superior to That of Moses.[b] 1 Therefore, holy brethren, who share in a heavenly calling, concentrate your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and the high priest of our profession of faith. 2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in God’s household.
3 However, he is deserving of a greater glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house is more honored than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all is God.
5 Now Moses was faithful as a servant in God’s household, testifying to the things that would later be revealed, 6 whereas Christ was faithful as a son watching over his house. And we are that house if we hold firm to our confidence and take pride in our hope.
The “Today” of God.[c] 7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 harden not your hearts as at the rebellion,
in the day of testing in the desert,
9 where your ancestors tried me and tested me
though they had seen what I could do 10 for forty years.
As a result I became angered with that generation,
and I said, ‘Their hearts have always gone astray,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 Therefore, I swore in my anger,
‘They will never enter into my rest.’ ”
12 Take care, brethren, that none of you will ever have an evil and unbelieving heart that will cause you to forsake the living God. 13 Rather, encourage each other every day, as long as it is today, so that none of you will become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we will become partners with Christ only if we maintain firmly until the end the confidence we originally had, 15 as it is said,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
harden not your hearts as at the rebellion.”
16 Who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Were they not all those whom Moses had led out of Egypt? 17 And with whom was he angered for forty years? Was it not with those who had sinned and whose corpses lay in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear that they would never enter into his rest, if not to those who disobeyed? 19 So we see clearly that they were unable to enter because of their refusal to believe.
Chapter 14
1 Samaria will be severely punished
because she has rebelled against her God.
Her people will fall by the sword;
her little ones will be dashed to pieces,
and her pregnant women will be ripped open.[a]
Come Back, O Israel, and I Will Love You[b]
2 Return, O Israel, to the Lord, your God;
your iniquity has been the cause of your downfall.
3 Prepare in advance what you want to say,
and return to the Lord.
Say to him, “Take away all guilt
and give us what is good,
so that we may present as offerings
the bullocks from our stalls.
4 Assyria will not save us,
nor shall we mount horses of war.
We shall never again say ‘Our god’
to the work of our hands,
for in you the fatherless find compassion.”
5 I will forgive them for their apostasy,
and I will love them freely,
for my wrath is turned away from them.
6 I will be like the dew to Israel;
they will blossom like a lily;
they will strike root like the cedars of Lebanon.
7 They will put out fresh shoots;
their splendor shall be like that of the olive tree
and their fragrance like the Lebanon cedar.
8 They shall again dwell in my shade
and once again flourish like grain.
They shall blossom like the vine,
and their fame will be like that of the wine of Lebanon.
9 What further dealings does Ephraim have with idols?
I hear you and look out for your welfare.
I am like an evergreen cypress;
your prosperity derives from me.
Final Notice
10 Let those who are wise understand these words,
and let the prudent acknowledge them.
For straight are the ways of the Lord;
the upright walk in them,
but sinners stumble.[c]
Psalm 139[a]
God’s Infinite Knowledge and Universal Power
1 For the director.[b] A psalm of David.
[c]O Lord, you have examined me
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I stand;[d]
you perceive my thoughts from a distance.
3 You mark when I go out and when I lie down;
all my ways are open to you.
4 A word is not even on my tongue
and you, O Lord, are completely aware of it.
5 You enfold me from in front and from behind,
and you place your hand upon me.[e]
6 Your knowledge is beyond my comprehension,
far too sublime for me to attain.
7 [f]Where can I go to hide from your spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to the heavens, you are there;
if I take my rest in the netherworld, you are also there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn[g]
and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
and your right hand will hold me fast.
11 [h]If I say, “Surely the darkness will conceal me
and the day around me will turn to night,”
12 even the darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day,
for to you darkness and light are the same.
13 [i]You created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am wonderfully made;
awesome are your works,
as I know very well.
15 My body was not hidden from you
when I was being made in secret.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
you saw me in the womb.[j]
16 [k]The sum total of my days
were all recorded in your book.[l]
My life was fashioned
before it had come into being.
17 How precious to me are your designs, O God!
How vast in number they are!
18 If I were to attempt to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake,[m]
I am still with you.
19 [n]If only you would slay the wicked, O God,
and the bloodthirsty would leave me![o]
20 They blaspheme your name
and treacherously rise up against you.[p]
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord,
and loathe those who rise up against you?
22 My hatred for them is unlimited;
I regard them as my personal enemies.
23 Examine me, O God, and know my heart;[q]
test me and understand my thoughts.
24 See if I follow an evil way,
and guide me on the way to eternity.
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