M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hezekiah Purifies the Temple

29 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother’s name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah. ² Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as King David had done.

³ In the first month of Hezekiah’s first year as king, he opened the doors of the Lord’s temple. He repaired them. ⁴ He brought the priests and Levites in. He gathered them together in the open area on the east side of the temple. ⁵ He said, “Levites, listen to me! Set yourselves apart to the Lord. Set apart the temple of the Lord. He’s the God of your people who lived long ago. Remove anything ‘unclean’ from the temple. ⁶ Our people weren’t faithful. They did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord our God. They deserted him. They turned their faces away from the place where he lives. They turned their backs on him. ⁷ They also shut the doors of the temple porch. They put the lamps out. They didn’t burn incense at the temple. They didn’t sacrifice burnt offerings there to the God of Israel. ⁸ So the Lord has become angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He has made them look so bad that everyone is shocked when they see them. They laugh at them. You can see it with your own eyes. ⁹ That’s why our fathers have been killed by swords. That’s why our sons and daughters and wives have become prisoners. ¹⁰ So I’m planning to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel. Then he’ll stop being angry with us. ¹¹ My sons, don’t fail to obey the Lord. He has chosen you to stand in front of him and work for him. He wants you to serve him and burn incense to him.”

¹² Here are the Levites who went to work.

¹⁵ All these Levites gathered the other Levites together. They set themselves apart to the Lord. Then they went in to purify the Lord’s temple. That’s what the king had ordered them to do. They did what the Lord told them to. ¹⁶ The priests went into the Lord’s temple to make it pure. They brought out to the temple courtyard everything that was “unclean.” They had found “unclean” things in the Lord’s temple. The Levites took them and carried them out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ On the first day of the first month they began to set everything in the temple apart to the Lord. By the eighth day of the month they reached the Lord’s porch. For eight more days they set the Lord’s temple itself apart to him. They finished on the 16th day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah. They reported, “We’ve purified the whole temple of the Lord. That includes the altar for burnt offerings and all its tools. It also includes the table for the holy bread and all its objects. ¹⁹ We’ve prepared all the things King Ahaz had removed. We’ve set them apart to the Lord. Ahaz had removed them while he was king. He wasn’t faithful to the Lord. Those things are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”

²⁰ Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered together the city officials. They all went up to the Lord’s temple. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven rams, seven male lambs and seven male goats with them. They sacrificed the animals as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the temple and for Judah. The king commanded the priests to offer them on the Lord’s altar. The priests were from the family line of Aaron. ²² They killed the bulls. Then they splashed the blood against the altar. Next they killed the rams and splashed the blood against the altar. Then they killed the lambs and splashed the blood against the altar. ²³ The goats for the sin offering were brought to the king and the whole community. They placed their hands on them. ²⁴ Then the priests killed the goats. They put the blood on the altar as a sin offering. It paid for the sin of the whole nation of Israel. The king had ordered the burnt offering and the sin offering for the whole nation.

²⁵ Hezekiah stationed the Levites in the Lord’s temple. They had cymbals, harps and lyres. They did everything in the way King David, his prophet Gad, and Nathan the prophet had required. The Lord had given commands about all these things through his prophets. ²⁶ So the Levites stood ready with David’s musical instruments. And the priests had their trumpets ready.

²⁷ Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. The offering began. Singing to the Lord also began. The singing was accompanied by the trumpets and by the instruments of David. He had been king of Israel. ²⁸ The whole community bowed down. They worshiped the Lord. At the same time the musicians played their musical instruments. The priests blew their trumpets. All of that continued until the burnt offering had been sacrificed.

²⁹ So the offerings were finished. King Hezekiah got down on his knees. He worshiped the Lord. So did everyone who was with him. ³⁰ The king and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the Lord. They used the words of David and Asaph the prophet. They sang praises with joy. They bowed down and worshiped the Lord.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “You have set yourselves apart to the Lord. Come and bring sacrifices and thank offerings to his temple.” So the whole community brought sacrifices and thank offerings. Everyone who wanted to brought burnt offerings.

³² The whole community brought 70 bulls, 100 rams and 200 male lambs. They brought all of them as burnt offerings to the Lord. ³³ The total number of animals set apart as sacrifices to the Lord was 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep and goats. ³⁴ But there weren’t enough priests to skin all the burnt offerings. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them. They worked until the task was finished. By that time other priests had been set apart to the Lord. The Levites had been more careful than the priests when they set themselves apart. ³⁵ There were large numbers of burnt offerings, along with the drink offerings and the fat from the friendship offerings. They were offered along with the burnt offerings.

So the service of the Lord’s temple was started up again. ³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people were filled with joy. That’s because everything had been done so quickly. God had provided for his people in a wonderful way.

Seven Angels With Seven Plagues

15 I saw in heaven another great and wonderful sign. Seven angels were about to bring the seven last plagues. The plagues would complete God’s anger. ² Then I saw something that looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire. Standing beside the sea were those who had won the battle over the beast. They had also overcome its statue and the number of its name. They held harps given to them by God. ³ They sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb. They sang,

⁵ After this I looked, and I saw the temple in heaven. And it was opened. The temple is the holy tent where the tablets of the covenant law were kept. ⁶ Out of the temple came the seven angels who were bringing the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen. They wore gold strips of cloth around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave seven golden bowls to the seven angels. The bowls were filled with the anger of God, who lives for ever and ever. ⁸ The temple was filled with smoke that came from the glory and power of God. No one could enter the temple at that time. They had to wait until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.

The Two Shepherds

⁴ The Lord my God says, “Take care of the sheep that are set apart to be sacrificed. ⁵ Those who buy them kill them. And they are not punished for it. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord! We’re rich!’ And their own shepherds do not spare them. ⁶ I will no longer have pity on the people in the land,” announces the Lord. “I will hand all of them over to their neighbors and their king. They will destroy the land. And I will not save anyone from their power.”

⁷ So I took care of the sheep set apart to be sacrificed. I took special care of those that had been treated badly. Then I got two shepherd’s staffs. I called one of them Favor. I called the other one Union. And I took care of the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of three worthless shepherds.

The sheep hated me, and I got tired of them. ⁹ So I said, “I won’t be your shepherd anymore. Let those of you who are dying die. Let those who are passing away pass away. Let those who are left eat one another up.”

¹⁰ Then I got my staff called Favor. I broke it. That meant the covenant the Lord had made with all the nations was broken. ¹¹ It happened that day. The sheep that had been treated badly were watching me. They knew it was the Lord’s message.

¹² I told them, “If you think it is best, give me my pay. But if you don’t think so, keep it.” So they paid me 30 silver coins.

¹³ The Lord said to me, “Throw those coins to the potter.” That amount shows how little they valued me! So I threw the 30 silver coins to the potter at the Lord’s temple.

¹⁴ Then I broke my second staff called Union. That broke the family connection between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ The Lord said to me, “Now pretend to be a foolish shepherd. Get the things you need. ¹⁶ I am going to raise up a shepherd over the land. He will not take care of those that are wounded. He will not look for the young ones. He will not heal those that are hurt. He will not feed the healthy ones. Instead, he will eat the best sheep. He will even tear their hooves off.

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe in me also. ² There are many rooms in my Father’s house. If this were not true, would I have told you that I am going there? Would I have told you that I would prepare a place for you there? ³ If I go and do that, I will come back. And I will take you to be with me. Then you will also be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

Jesus Is the Way to the Father

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will know my Father also. From now on, you do know him. And you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father. That will be enough for us.”

⁹ Jesus answered, “Don’t you know me, Philip? I have been among you such a long time! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father? Don’t you believe that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. The Father lives in me. He is the one who is doing his work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say I am in the Father. Also believe that the Father is in me. Or at least believe what the works I have been doing say about me. ¹² What I’m about to tell you is true. Anyone who believes in me will do the works I have been doing. In fact, they will do even greater things. That’s because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And I will do anything you ask in my name. Then the Father will receive glory from the Son. ¹⁴ You may ask me for anything in my name. I will do it.

Jesus Promises That the Holy Spirit Will Come

¹⁵ “If you love me, obey my commands. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father. And he will give you another friend to help you and to be with you forever. ¹⁷ That friend is the Spirit of truth. The world can’t accept him. That’s because the world does not see him or know him. But you know him. He lives with you, and he will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not leave you like children who don’t have parents. I will come to you. ¹⁹ Before long, the world will not see me anymore. But you will see me. Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ On that day you will realize that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me, and I am in you. ²¹ Anyone who has my commands and obeys them loves me. My Father will love the one who loves me. I too will love them. And I will show myself to them.”

²² Then Judas spoke. “Lord,” he said, “why do you plan to show yourself only to us? Why not also to the world?” The Judas who spoke those words was not Judas Iscariot.

²³ Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. We will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. The words you hear me say are not my own. They belong to the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I have spoken all these things while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Father will send the Friend in my name to help you. The Friend is the Holy Spirit. He will teach you all things. He will remind you of everything I have said to you. ²⁷ I leave my peace with you. I give my peace to you. I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be troubled. And do not be afraid.

²⁸ “You heard me say, ‘I am going away. And I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad I am going to the Father. The Father is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you now before it happens. Then when it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ I will not say much more to you. The prince of this world is coming. He has no power over me. ³¹ But he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father. They must also learn that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me to do.

“Come now. Let us leave.