M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 26
The Works of Uzziah.[a] 1 Then all the people of Judah chose Uzziah, even though he was only sixteen years old, and they made him king as the successor to his father Amaziah. 2 It was he who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after the king had fallen asleep with his ancestors.
3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he ascended the throne, and he reigned in Jerusalem for fifty-two years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. 4 He did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 Furthermore, he consulted God throughout the lifetime of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the guidance of the Lord, God allowed him to prosper.[b]
6 Uzziah went forth and fought the Philistines. He demolished the walls of Gath, the walls of Jabneh, and the walls of Ashdod; and he built cities in the territory of Ashdod, and elsewhere among the Philistines. 7 God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabs who lived in Gur-baal, and against the Meunites.
8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the borders of Egypt, for he became ever more powerful. 9 Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the Angle, and he fortified them. 10 He also erected towers in the wilderness and dug many cisterns, for he had large herds of cattle both in the Shephelah and in the plain; and he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.
11 Uzziah had a well-trained army ready to engage in battles and divided into divisions according to their numbers as specified by the scribe Jeiel and the staff officer Maaseiah, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. 12 The total number of the heads of ancestral houses of mighty warriors was two thousand six hundred. 13 Under their command was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, a powerful force to help the king against his enemies.
14 Uzziah provided for the entire army the shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows, and slingstones. 15 In Jerusalem he also had requisitioned machines, invented by skilled workers, to be placed on the towers and battlements for shooting arrows and large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was so miraculously gifted that he became very powerful.
16 Pride and Punishment. However, when Uzziah continued to grow ever stronger, he also was afflicted with pride, and that led to his destruction. For he proved unfaithful to the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to make an offering on the altar of incense. 17 Then the priest Azariah and eighty priests of the Lord who were courageous men followed him.
18 The priests confronted King Uzziah and said to him: “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to make offerings. Leave the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and you will no longer share in the glory that comes from the Lord God.” 19 Uzziah had a censer in his hand to burn the incense, but while he showed his intense anger to the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, in the presence of the priests in the house of the Lord, by the altar of incense.
20 When the chief priest, Azariah, and all the other priests looked at Uzziah carefully and saw that his forehead was leprous, they quickly removed him from the temple; and he himself was equally anxious to leave because the Lord had afflicted him. 21 King Uzziah remained a leper until the day of his death, and because he was thus afflicted, he dwelt while confined in a separate house, since he was excluded from the house of the Lord. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace of the king, and he governed the people of the land.
22 The rest of the history of Uzziah, from first to last, was written by the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz. 23 Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried with them, but in the field adjoining the royal tombs, for they said: “He is a leper.” His son Jotham succeeded him as king.
Chapter 13
1 Then I saw a beast rising out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads. On its horns were ten diadems, and on its heads were blasphemous names. 2 The beast that I saw resembled a leopard, but it had feet like those of a bear, and its mouth was like the mouth of a lion. The dragon conferred on the beast his own power and his throne, as well as great authority.
3 One of his heads appeared to me to have been mortally wounded, but its mortal wound had been healed. The whole world then became fascinated with the beast, 4 and they worshiped the dragon because he had conferred authority on the beast. They also worshiped the beast, saying, “Who can compare with the beast? Who can fight against it?”
5 It was allowed to mouth its haughty and blasphemous words, and it was granted permission to exercise its authority for forty-two months.[a] 6 It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, as well as against his name and his dwelling and all those who live in heaven.
7 The beast was also allowed to wage war on the saints and conquer them, and it was given authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation. 8 All the inhabitants of the earth will worship it, all those whose names have not been written from the creation of the world[b] in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was slain.
9 Whoever has ears should listen to these words:
10 “If anyone is to go into captivity,
into captivity he will go.
If anyone is destined to be slain by the sword,
by the sword he must be slain.”
This demands patient endurance and faithfulness on the part of the saints.
11 A Beast Rises from the Earth.[c] Then I saw another beast, this one rising up out of the earth. It had two horns like those of a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. 12 It wielded all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it forced the earth and all its inhabitants to worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. 13 It performed great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in the sight of all.
14 By the signs it was allowed to perform on behalf of the beast, it deceived the inhabitants of the earth, persuading them to erect an image for the beast that had been wounded by the sword and yet lived. 15 It was permitted to give life to the beast’s image so that it could even speak and cause all those to be put to death who would not worship the image of the beast.
16 It also forced all the people, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be branded on the right hand or on the forehead. 17 No one could buy or sell anything except one who has been branded with the name of the beast or with the number of its name.
18 There is wisdom here. Let anyone who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. The number is six hundred and sixty-six.
The New People of God[a][b]
Chapter 9
The New Land
1 [c]An oracle:
The word of the Lord
is against the land of Hadrach,
and it will come to rest upon Damascus.
For the cities of Aaron belong to the Lord,
as do all the tribes of Israel,
2 as well as Hamath also,
which borders on it,
and on Tyre and Sidon,
even though they are very wise.
3 Tyre has built a stronghold for itself
and heaped up silver like dust
and gold like the dirt of the streets.
4 But the Lord will strip it of its possessions
and destroy its power on the sea,
and the city itself will be consumed by fire.
5 Ashkelon will witness this and be terrified,
as will Gaza who will writhe in anguish;
the same will be true of Ekron
whose hopes will come to naught.
The king will vanish from Gaza,
and Ashkelon will be uninhabited.
6 Foreigners will settle in Ashdod,
and I will demolish the pride of the Philistines.
7 I will snatch the bloody meat from their mouths
and their abominations from between their teeth.
They, too, will be a remnant belonging to our God;
they will be like a clan in Judah,
and Ekron will become like the Jebusites.[d]
8 I will stand guard at my house
so that no one may pass by unchallenged.
No oppressor will ever again overrun them,
for now I am determined to protect them.
Behold, Your King Comes to You[e]
9 Rejoice with all your heart, O daughter Zion.
Shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem.
See, your king is coming to you,
triumphant and victorious,
humble and riding on a donkey,
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
10 He will banish the chariot from Ephraim
and the horses of war from Jerusalem.
The warrior’s bow will be banished,
and he will proclaim peace to the nations.
His dominion will be from sea to sea,
and from the river to the ends of the earth.
The Reestablishment of Israel
11 As for you,
because of the blood of my covenant with you,
I will set free your prisoners
from the waterless dungeon.
12 Return to the fortress,
you prisoners who have waited in hope.
This very day I promise
that I will reward you twofold.
13 For I have strung Judah as my bow
and made Ephraim its arrow.
I have roused your sons, O Zion,
and have made you like a warrior’s sword
against your sons, O Javan.
14 Then the Lord will appear over them,
and his arrow will flash forth like lightning.
The Lord God will sound the trumpet
and march forth in the stormwinds of the south.
15 The Lord of hosts will protect them,
and they will overcome
as they trample underfoot the slingstones.
They will drink blood like wine,
filled to the brim like a bowl,
drenched like the corners of the altar.
16 The Lord, their God, will save them on that day,
for they are his flock, his own people.
Like the precious stones of a crown
they will sparkle throughout his land.
17 What wealth and what beauty will be theirs,
with grain to make the young men flourish
and with new wine for the maidens!
Chapter 12
The Anointing at Bethany. 1 Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 2 They gave a dinner there for him. Martha served the meal, and Lazarus was among those at table with him.
3 Mary brought in a pint[a] of very costly ointment, made from pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and dried them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. 4 Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples, the one who was about to betray him, said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii[b] and the money given to the poor?” 6 He said this not because he had any concern for the poor but because he was a thief. He was in charge of the money bag, and he used to steal from it.
7 Jesus said in response, “Leave her alone! Let her keep it for the day of my burial. 8 The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me.”
9 Meanwhile, a large number of Jews learned that he was there, and they came not only because of Jesus but also because they wanted to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 The chief priests then decided to put Lazarus to death as well, 11 since it was because of him that many of the Jews were leaving and putting their faith in Jesus.
12 The Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.[c] The next day the great crowd of people who had come for the feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. 13 Thus, they went out to meet him, carrying branches of palm[d] and shouting,
“Hosanna!
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord,
the King of Israel.”
14 Jesus found a young donkey and rode it, as it is written,
15 “Do not be afraid, daughter of Zion.[e]
Behold, your King is coming,
riding on a donkey’s colt.”
16 At first, his disciples did not understand this, but later, when Jesus had been glorified, they recalled that these things had been written about him and had happened to him.
17 Now the people who had been present when he called Lazarus out of the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to testify about this.[f] 18 Because the crowd had heard that he had performed this sign, they went out to meet him. 19 So the Pharisees said to one another, “As you see, we are getting nowhere. The entire world has gone after him.”
20 The Glory of the Cross.[g] Among those who had come up to worship at the feast were some Greeks.[h] 21 They approached Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus. 22 Philip went to tell Andrew of this, and Philip and Andrew informed Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them,
“The hour has come
for the Son of Man to be glorified.
24 Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless a grain of wheat
falls into the earth and dies,
it remains just a grain of wheat.
However, if it dies,
it bears much fruit.
25 “Anyone who loves his life loses it,
but the one who hates his life in this world
will preserve it for eternal life.
26 If anyone wishes to serve me,
he must follow me.
Where I am,
there also will my servant be.
If anyone serves me,
my Father will honor that person.
27 “Now my soul is troubled.
Yet what should I say:
‘Father, save me from this hour’?
No, it was for this
that I have come to this hour.
28 Father, glorify your name.”
Then a voice came from heaven,
“I have glorified it,
and I will glorify it again.”
29 The crowd that was present heard this, and some of them said that it was thunder, while others asserted, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered,
“This voice did not come for my sake
but for yours.
31 Now is the judgment on this world.
Now the prince of this world[i]
will be driven out.
32 And when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all to myself.”
33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.
34 The crowd answered, “Our Law[j] teaches that the Christ will remain forever. How then can you say that the Son of Man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of Man?” 35 Jesus replied,
“The light will be with you
for only a little longer.
Go on your way
while you still have the light,
so that the darkness
will not overtake you.
“Whoever walks in the darkness
does not know where he is going.
36 While you have the light,
believe in the light
so that you may become children of light.”
After Jesus had said this, he departed and hid himself from their sight.
37 The Choice To Believe in the Light.[k] Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him. 38 This was to fulfill the word of the prophet Isaiah,
“Lord, who has believed our preaching?
To whom has the power of the Lord been revealed?”
39 They therefore could not believe for as Isaiah said,
40 “He has blinded their eyes
and hardened their hearts,
lest they see with their eyes
and understand with their hearts,
and thereby be converted,
so that I could heal them.”[l]
41 Isaiah said this because he saw his glory, and his words referred to him.
42 Nevertheless, there were many, even among the authorities, who believed in him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess their faith in him, for fear of being banned from the synagogue.[m] 43 For they valued human glory more highly than the glory that comes from God.
44 The Choice To Believe in Jesus.[n] Then Jesus cried out,
“Whoever believes in me
believes not only in me
but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me
sees the one who sent me.
46 I have come into the world as light
so that everyone who believes in me
may not have to remain in darkness.
47 [o]“But if anyone listens to my words
and fails to observe them,
I will not pass judgment on him,
for I did not come to judge the world
but to save the world.
48 Anyone who rejects me
and does not accept my words
already has a judge.
On the last day,
the word that I have spoken
will serve as his judge.
49 “For I have not spoken on my own,
but the Father who sent me
has himself given me command
about what I am to say
and how I am to speak.
50 I know that his commandment
is eternal life.
Therefore, what I speak
is what the Father has told me to say.”
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