M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 29
Reforms of Hezekiah.[a] 1 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem for twenty-nine years. His mother was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his ancestor David had done.
3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the temple of the Lord and repaired them. 4 Next he brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east. 5 Then he said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites. Sanctify yourselves first. Then sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and remove the filth from the sanctuary. 6 For our ancestors were unfaithful and did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from him, and turned their backs on him. 7 They also shut the doors of the vestibule and extinguished the lamps, and they ceased to burn incense or present any burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.
8 “Therefore, the anger of the Lord fell upon Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of terror, astonishment, and derision, as you can see with your own eyes. 9 Our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and daughters and our wives have been taken captive as a result. 10 Now I am determined to make a covenant with the God of Israel, in the hope that his fierce anger may turn away from us. 11 Therefore, my sons, do not be negligent any longer, for the Lord has chosen you to sit in his presence and to serve him, to be his ministers, and to offer incense before him.”
12 The Levites immediately set to work: from the sons of the Kohathites: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah; from the sons of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; from the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah; 13 from the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; from the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 from the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; from the sons of Jeduthun: Shemaiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their brothers together and sanctified themselves; then, in obedience to the king’s order in accordance with the Lord’s command, they proceeded to purify the house of the Lord.
16 The priests entered the inner part of the Lord’s house to cleanse it, and they brought all the unclean things that they found in the temple of the Lord and deposited them in the court of the house of the Lord, where the Levites collected them and carried them out to the Kidron Valley. 17 They began the rites of sanctification on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they had arrived at the vestibule of the Lord. Then for eight days they sanctified the Lord’s house, and on the sixteenth day of the first month they had finished.
18 Their work having been completed, they went in to King Hezekiah and said: “We have cleansed the entire house of the Lord, the altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and the table for setting out the consecrated bread with all its utensils. 19 We have restored and consecrated all the articles that King Ahaz had cast aside during his reign because of his infidelity. They are now in place before the altar of the Lord.”
20 The Rite of Expiation. King Hezekiah rose early the next morning, assembled the officials of the city, and went up to the house of the Lord. 21 They brought with them seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah, and he ordered the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord.
22 Therefore, after the city officials slaughtered the bulls, the priests received the blood and sprinkled it on the altar. Then the rams were slaughtered, and, the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar. After that, the lambs were slaughtered, and the priests sprinkled the blood on the altar.
23 Finally the he-goats for the sin offering were brought before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands on them. 24 Then the priests slaughtered them and used their blood as a sin offering at the altar in order to make atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
25 The king stationed the Levites in the house of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the ordinance prescribed by David, by Gad the king’s seer, and by Nathan the prophet. This commandment was prescribed by the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David while the priests stood ready with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah commanded that the burnt offering be presented on the altar. And at the moment when the burnt offering began, the song to the Lord began also, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of King David of Israel. 28 The entire assembly bowed in worship while the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded, all of this continuing until the burnt offering had been completed.
29 When the burnt offering was finished, the king and all those who were present with him bowed down and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and his officials commanded the Levites to sing praises to the Lord in the words of David and of the seer, Asaph. They joyfully sang their praises, after which they knelt down and prostrated themselves in worship.
31 Then Hezekiah issued this command: “Now that you have consecrated yourselves to the Lord, come forward and bring your sacrifices and thank offerings to the house of the Lord.”
Therefore, the assembly brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and all those who had generous hearts brought burnt offerings. 32 The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought was seventy bulls, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs. All these were designated as a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 The consecrated offerings were six hundred bulls and three hundred sheep.
34 However, the priests were too few in number to be able to skin the burnt offerings. Therefore, their brethren the Levites were clearly more conscientious than the priests in sanctifying themselves. 35 In addition to a great number of burnt offerings, there was also the fat of the fellowship offerings and the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was restored. 36 Then Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had done for the people and how suddenly all this had been completed.
Chapter 15
The Seven Angels and the Seven Plagues.[a] 1 Then I saw in heaven another great and wondrous sign: seven angels with the seven plagues, the last plagues of all, for through them the wrath of God is completed.
The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb.[b] 2 I saw something that looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. Standing beside the sea of glass and holding the harps that God had given them were those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They were holding harps given them by God 3 and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“How great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
O King of the nations!
4 Who shall not fear you, O Lord,
and bring glory to your name?
For you alone are holy.
All nations will come
and worship before you,
for your acts of justice have been revealed.”
The Justice and Triumph of God[c]
Vision of the Temple. 5 After this, in my vision, the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony,[d] was opened in heaven, 6 and from the temple emerged the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were robed in clean, shining linen, and breastplates of gold were fastened around their chests.
7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven gold bowls full of the wrath of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from his power, so that no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
Chapter 11
1 Open your doors, O Lebanon,
so that the fire may devour your cedars.
2 Wail, you cypress trees,
for the cedars have fallen,
the majestic trees have been ravaged.
Wail, you oaks of Bashan,
for the impenetrable forest has been felled.
3 Listen to the wailing of the shepherds,
for their majesty has been destroyed.
Listen to the roar of the lions,
for the dense thickets of the Jordan have been ravaged.
The New Shepherd of Israel
The Two Shepherds.[a] 4 Thus says the Lord, my God: Be a shepherd to the flock destined for slaughter. 5 Those who buy them kill them and go unpunished, while those who sell them say, “Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich.” Even their own shepherds feel no pity for them.
6 I will no longer have any pity for the inhabitants of the earth, says the Lord. Rather, I will deliver each one of them into the power of his neighbor or into the clutches of the king. They will devastate the earth, and I will not deliver anyone from their hands.
7 And so I became a shepherd of the flock that was destined to be slaughtered by the sheep dealers. I took two staffs, one of which I named Favor and the other one of which I named Unity, and I pastured the sheep myself. 8 In a single month I got rid of the three shepherds. However, I soon lost patience with the flock, and they detested me.
9 Finally I said. “I will not be your shepherd any longer. What is to die, let it die. What is to be destroyed, let it be destroyed. Those who are left can devour one another.”
10 Then I took my staff “Favor” and snapped it in two, thereby annulling the covenant I had made with all the peoples. 11 Therefore, it was annulled on that day, and the dealers who were watching me realized that this was the word of the Lord. 12 I said to them, “If it seems right to you, give me my wages; if not, then forget about it.” Then they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver.
13 However, the Lord said to me, “Throw it into the treasury—the princely sum at which they valued my efforts.” Therefore, I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury of the house of the Lord. 14 Then I broke my second staff, “Unity,” in half, annulling the ties of brotherhood between Judah and Israel.
15 The Lord thereupon said to me: Take once again the equipment of a worthless shepherd. 16 For I am now going to raise up a shepherd in the land who will have no concern for those who are perishing, nor go off in search of the strays, nor heal the injured, nor nourish those who survive, but who will eat the meat of the fat animals, tearing off even their hoofs.
17 Woe to the worthless shepherd
who abandons his flock.
May the sword fall upon his arm
and upon his right eye.
Let his arm be completely withered
and his right eye be totally blinded.
The Way, the Truth, and the Life[a]
Chapter 14
Jesus, the Way, Leads to the Father[b]
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You place your trust in God.[c]
Trust also in me.
2 In my Father’s house
there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you
that I am going to prepare a place for you?
3 And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I will come again
and will take you to myself,
so that where I am,
you may also be.
4 You know the way
to the place I am going.”
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?”
Jesus, the Truth, Reveals the Father[d]
6 Jesus replied,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me.
7 If you know me,
then you will know my Father also.
From now on you do know him.
You have seen him.”
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, it will be enough for us.” 9 Jesus answered,
“Have I been with you all this time, Philip,
and you still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me
has seen the Father.
How can you say,
‘Show us the Father’?
10 Do you not believe
that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me?
“The words that I speak to you
I do not speak on my own.
The Father who dwells in me
is doing his works.
11 Believe me when I say
that I am in the Father
and the Father is in me.
But if you do not,
then believe
because of the works themselves.
Jesus, the Life, Communicates the Spirit[e]
12 “Amen, amen, I say to you,
the one who believes in me
will also do the works that I do,
and indeed will do even greater ones than these,
because I am going to the Father.
13 Whatever you ask in my name I will do,
so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you ask me for anything in my name,
I will do it.
15 “If you love me,
you will keep my commandments.
16 And I will ask the Father,
and he will give you another Advocate
to be with you forever,
17 the Spirit of Truth
whom the world cannot accept
because it neither sees him nor knows him.
But you know him,
because he dwells with you
and will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphans;
I will come to you.
19 In a little while,
the world will no longer see me,
but you will see me.
Because I live,
you also will live.
20 On that day, you will know
that I am in my Father,
and you in me, and I in you.
21 “Anyone who has received my commandments
and observes them
is the one who loves me.
And whoever loves me
will be loved by my Father,
and I will love him
and reveal myself to him.”
22 Judas (not Judas Iscariot)[f] asked him, “Lord, why is it that you are revealing yourself to us and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him,
“Whoever loves me will keep my word,
and my Father will love him,
and we will come to him
and make our abode with him.
24 Whoever does not love me
does not keep my words.
And the word that you hear
is not my own,
but that of the Father who sent me.
25 “I have told you these things
while I am still with you.
26 However, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit,
whom the Father will send in my name,
will teach you everything
and remind you of all
that I have said to you.
The Peace of Jesus[g]
27 “Peace I leave with you,
my peace I give to you.
Not as the world gives
do I give it to you.
Do not let your hearts be troubled;
be not afraid.
28 “You have heard me say to you,
‘I am going away,
and I will come back to you.’
If you loved me,
you would rejoice
that I am going to the Father,
for the Father is greater than I.[h]
29 And now I have told you this
before it happens,
so that when it does happen
you may believe.
30 “I will no longer talk at length with you
because the prince of the world is coming.
He has no power over me,
31 but the world must come to understand
that I love the Father
and that I do
just as the Father has commanded me.
Get up! Let us be on our way.
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