M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 17
Hoshea of Israel. 1 Hoshea, the son of Elah, began to reign over Israel in Samaria during the twelfth year of the reign of Ahaz, the king of Judah. 2 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, but not like the kings of Israel who preceded him.
3 Shalmaneser, the king of Assyria, attacked him, and Hoshea became his vassal and gave him tribute. 4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was involved in a conspiracy, for he had sent messengers to the king of Egypt, and he had not given tribute to the king of Assyria as he had in previous years. The king of Assyria therefore shut him up, throwing him in prison. 5 [a]The king of Assyria occupied the entire land, and he went up to Samaria and besieged it for three years.
6 The king of Assyria captured Samaria in the ninth year of the reign of Hoshea. He carried Israel away into Assyria, settling them in Halah, near Habor, on the River Gozan, in the cities of the Medes. 7 This happened because the Israelites had sinned against the Lord, their God, who had brought them out of the land of Egypt, from under the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. They had revered other gods 8 and they had walked in the statutes of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before them and that the kings of Israel had introduced.
9 The people of Israel secretly did what was wrong against the Lord, their God. They built high places for themselves in all of their cities, whether it be a simple watchtower or fortified city. 10 They set up pillars and Asherahs for themselves on every high hill and under every green tree. 11 They burned incense on all of the high places like the nations whom the Lord had carried away before them. They did wicked things, provoking the anger of the Lord. 12 They served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You are not to do this thing.”
13 The Lord had testified against Israel and against Judah through every prophet and every seer saying, “Turn from your evil ways. Keep my commandments and my statutes according to the law that I gave your fathers and which I sent you by my servants, the prophets.” 14 But they would not listen. They hardened their necks to make them just like the necks of their fathers who had not believed in the Lord, their God. 15 They despised his statutes and his covenant that he had made with their fathers and the warnings by which he bore witness against them. They followed after vain idols, becoming foolish. They also followed after the nations that surrounded them, the ones of whom the Lord had told them that they should not do what they did. 16 They abandoned the commandments of the Lord, their God, and they made molten images of two calves for themselves. They made Asherah, worshiped all the host of heaven, and served the Baals.[b] 17 They burned their sons and their daughters in fire, and they practiced divination and sorcery. They sold themselves to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord and to provoke him to anger.
18 The Lord was thus very angry with Israel. He removed them from out of his sight, so that there were none of them left except for the tribe of Judah.
19 Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord, their God, but they walked in the practices that Israel had introduced. 20 The Lord rejected all of the descendants of Israel, punishing them and delivering them into the hands of those who plundered them until he had cast them out of his sight.
21 When he tore Israel away from the house of David, they made Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, their king. Jeroboam misled Israel, causing them to turn away from following the Lord, making them commit a great sin. 22 The Israelites walked in all of the sins that Jeroboam committed; they did not turn away from them 23 until the Lord had removed them from out of his sight as he had predicted through all of his servants, the prophets. Israel was exiled out of their own land into Assyria where they are up until the present.
24 Foreigners Deported to Samaria.[c] The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Cuthah, Avva, Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and he settled them in the cities of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took possession of Samaria and dwelt in its cities.
25 When they first began to dwell there, they did not fear the Lord, so the Lord sent lions among them which killed some of them. 26 The king of Assyria was told, “The nations that you deported and settled in the cities of Samaria do not know the law of the God of the land. This is why he sent lions among them to kill them, because they did not know the law of the God of the land.”
27 The king of Assyria commanded, “Carry one of the priests there whom you deported. Let him go and dwell there to teach them the law of the God of the land.”
28 One of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria went and dwelt in Bethel. He taught them how to fear the Lord. 29 But all the nations still made their own gods, and they placed their shrines on the high places which the Samaritans had made, each nation in their own cities where they dwelt. 30 The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31 and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak. The Sepharvites burned their children in fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of the Sepharvaim.
32 They also feared the Lord, and they appointed priests for the high places from their lowliest classes. They performed sacrifices for them in the shrines on the high places. 33 So they feared the Lord but they also served their own gods in the tradition of the nations from which they had been carried away. 34 Up to the present they still follow their previous traditions. They do not fear the Lord, and they do not observe the statutes or the ordinances or the law or the commandment that the Lord had given to the children of Jacob to whom he gave the name Israel.
35 The Lord made a covenant with them and ordered them, “You shall not fear other gods,[d] nor shall you bow yourselves down to them, nor shall you serve them, nor shall you offer sacrifices to them. 36 You shall fear the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and an outstretched arm. You are to fear him, and you are to worship him, and you are to offer sacrifice to him. 37 You will always carefully observe the statutes, the ordinances, the laws, and the commandments that he wrote for you. You are not to fear other gods. 38 You will not forget the covenant that I made with you, and you are not to fear other gods. 39 You will fear the Lord, your God. He will deliver you out of the hands of all of your enemies.”
40 However, they would not listen; they practiced their previous traditions. 41 The nations thus feared the Lord, but they also served their graven images. Their children and their grandchildren did what their fathers had done, up to the present day.
Chapter 3
1 Remind everyone to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey them, to be ready to perform any honorable task,[a] 2 to slander no one, to avoid quarrels, to be gentle, and to be gracious to everyone.
3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, and enslaved by various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy. We ourselves were hateful, and we hated one another.
4 But when the goodness and loving kindness
of God our Savior appeared,
5 [b]not because of any righteous deeds on our part
but because of his mercy,
he saved us through the bath of rebirth
and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom he lavished on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that we might be justified by his grace
and become heirs in hope of eternal life.
8 This saying can be trusted.
Be Devoted to Good Works.[c] I want you to stress these points, so that those who have come to believe in God will be determined to devote themselves to good works. All this is right and beneficial for people. 9 But avoid foolish arguments, genealogies, dissensions, and quarrels about the Law, for they are unprofitable and futile.
10 Warn a heretic once or twice, but afterward reject him. 11 You may be sure that such a person is perverted and sinful and stands self-condemned.
Conclusion[d]
12 Final Message. As soon as I have sent Artemas[e] or Tychicus to you, do your best to come to me at Nicopolis, where I intend to spend the winter. 13 Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos[f] on their way, and see to it that they lack nothing. 14 Meanwhile, our people must be taught to devote themselves to good works in order to meet urgent needs[g] so that they will not be unfruitful.
15 Farewell. All those with me send you greetings. Greetings to those who love us in the faith.
Grace be with all of you.[h]
Chapter 10
Duplicity of Heart
1 Israel is a luxuriant vine
bringing forth a great bounty of fruit.
The more his fruit increased,
the more altars he built.
The more prosperous his land became,
the richer he made the sacred pillars.
2 Their heart is false;
now they must pay the penalty for the guilt.
God himself will destroy their altars
and demolish their sacred pillars.
3 Then they will say,
“We have no king
because we did not serve the Lord.
But even if we had a king,
what could he do for us?”
4 They make many empty promises,
swear false oaths and draw up treaties.
Thus litigation spreads like poisonous weeds
in the furrows of the fields.
5 The inhabitants of Samaria tremble
for the calf of Beth-aven.
The people mourn for it,
and its idolatrous priests mourn over it,
over its glory that has departed from it.
6 It will be carried to Assyria
as an offering to the great king.
Ephraim will be disgraced,
and Israel will be shamed by his schemes.
7 The king of Samaria will float away
like a flimsy twig drifting on the water.
8 The high places of Aven will be destroyed,
the shrines where Israel sinned.
Thorns and thistles shall flourish
and cover their altars.
Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!”
and to the hills, “Fall on us!”
9 Since the days of Gibeah,
you have sinned, O Israel,
and there you have remained.
Did not war overtake
the evildoers in Gibeah?
10 I have come to confront the rebels
and to chastise them.
Nations shall mass against them
to punish them for their two crimes.
11 Ephraim was a trained heifer
that loved to thresh grain.
I myself laid a yoke
upon her fair neck.
However, I will harness Ephraim;
Judah will be forced to plow,
and Jacob will harrow the land.
12 Sow righteousness for yourselves,
and reap a harvest of steadfast love.
Break up your fallow ground;
it is time to seek the Lord
so that he may come and rain down righteousness upon you.
13 However, you have plowed wickedness
and reaped depravity;
you have eaten the fruit of falsehood.
Because you have trusted in your chariots
and in your multitude of warriors,
14 the tumult of war will engulf your people,
and all your fortresses will be destroyed,
as Salman[a] devastated Beth-arbel on the day of battle
when mothers were dashed to pieces with their children.
15 Thus shall it be done to you, O Bethel,
because of your great wickedness.
At dawn the king of Israel
will be utterly destroyed.
Psalm 129[a]
Prayer in Time of Persecution
1 [b]A song of ascents.
They have greatly oppressed me from my youth—[c]
let Israel say—
2 they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
but never have my enemies prevailed against me.
3 The plowers plowed upon my back,[d]
making deep furrows.
4 However, the Lord is righteous,
freeing me from the bonds of the wicked.
5 [e]May all those who hate Zion
be thrown back in shame and confusion.[f]
6 [g]May they be like grass on the rooftops
that withers before it can be plucked,
7 so that it can never fill the hands of the reapers
or the arms of the binders of sheaves.
8 May those who pass by never cry out,
“The blessing of the Lord be upon you!
We bless you in the name of the Lord.”
Psalm 130[h]
Prayer for Pardon and Peace
1 A song of ascents.
Out of the depths[i] I cry to you, O Lord;
2 O Lord, hear my voice.
Let your ears be attentive
to my cries of supplication.[j]
3 If you, O Lord, kept a record of our sins,
O Lord, who could stand[k] upright?
4 But with you there is forgiveness
so that you may be revered.[l]
5 I wait for the Lord[m] in anxious expectation;
I place my hope in his word.
6 My soul waits for the Lord
more than watchmen wait for the dawn.
More than watchmen wait for the dawn[n]
7 [o]let Israel wait for the Lord.
For with the Lord there is kindness,
as well as plenteous redemption.
8 He alone will redeem Israel
from all its sins.
Psalm 131[p]
Childlike Trust in God
1 A song of ascents. Of David.
O Lord, my heart[q] is not proud,
nor are my eyes raised too high.
I do not concern myself with great affairs
or with things too sublime for me.
2 Rather, I have stilled and calmed my soul,[r]
hushed it like a weaned child.
Like a weaned child held in its mother’s arms,
so is my soul within me.
3 O Israel, put your hope in the Lord
both now and forevermore.[s]
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