M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16[a]
Ahaz of Judah. 1 Ahaz, the son of Jotham, the king of Judah, began to reign during the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah, the son of Remaliah. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for sixteen years.
He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord as David, his father, had done. 3 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel, even sacrificing his son in fire. He practiced the abominations of the nations whom the Lord had cast out before the Israelites. 4 He performed sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hilltops, and under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin, the king of Aram, and Pekah, the son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, attacked Jerusalem. They besieged Ahaz, but they could not defeat him. 6 It was at this time that Rezin, the king of Aram, reconquered Elath, and the Arameans drove the Judahites out of Elath. The Edomites then settled in Elath and they have dwelt there up to the present.
7 Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come and save me from the hands of the king of Aram and the hands of the king of Israel who have risen up against me.”
8 Ahaz took the silver and the gold from the temple of the Lord and the treasury of the royal palace, and he sent it to the king of Assyria as a gift. 9 The king of Assyria consented to his request, and the king of Assyria attacked Damascus and captured it. He deported its people to Kir.
10 Then King Ahaz traveled to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, the king of Assyria. He saw an altar in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent Uriah the priest to Damascus to make a drawing of the altar along with a complete description of its construction. 11 Uriah the priest built an altar according to everything for which King Ahaz had sent him to Damascus. Uriah finished it before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 When the king returned from Damascus, the king saw the altar. The king approached the altar and made an offering on it. 13 He offered up burnt offerings and cereal offerings. He poured out drink offerings and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. 14 He brought the bronze altar that was before the Lord from the front of the temple, from between the altar and the temple of the Lord, and he placed it on the north side of the altar.
15 King Ahaz gave orders to Uriah the priest, saying, “Offer on the great altar the morning burnt offerings and the evening cereal offerings, the king’s burnt offerings and his cereal offerings, along with the burnt offerings, cereal offerings, and drink offerings of all of the people of the land. Sprinkle the blood of the sacrifices on it, but I will use the bronze altar when I make inquiries.” 16 Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz had commanded.
17 King Ahaz cut off the side panels and he removed the basins from the moveable carts, he removed the sea from the bronze oxen underneath it and he placed it on a stone base. 18 He took away the Sabbath canopy[b] that had been built on the temple and the royal entrance outside the temple of the Lord on account of the king of Assyria.
19 Now the rest of the deeds of Ahaz, what he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?
20 Ahaz slept with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Hezekiah, his son, reigned in his stead.
Proper Conduct for Christians
Chapter 2
Teach What Is Consistent with Sound Doctrine.[a] 1 As for you, teach what is consistent with sound doctrine. 2 Exhort the older men to be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, and sound in faith, in love, and in perseverance.
3 Similarly, exhort the older women to be reverent in their behavior, not to be slanderous or slaves of drink, and eager to teach what is good. 4 They can then instruct the younger women to love their husbands and their children, 5 to be self-controlled and chaste, to be diligent homemakers, to be agreeable, and to respect the authority of their husbands so that the word of God may not be derided.
6 Likewise, exhort the younger men to exercise self-control. 7 Show yourself to them in all respects as a model of good works, while in your teaching exhibit integrity and dignity 8 and a soundness of speech that cannot be criticized. Then any opponent will be put to shame when he can find nothing evil to say about us.
9 Exhort slaves to be submissive to their masters and to give them satisfaction in every respect. They are not to talk back to them, 10 nor are they to steal from them. Rather, they should show themselves to be completely trustworthy so that in every way they may add luster to the doctrine of God our Savior.
11 The Grace of God Has Appeared.[b] For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to the entire human race. 12 It teaches us to reject godless ways and worldly desires, and in the present age to lead lives that are temperate, just, and godly, 13 while we await our blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.[c] 14 He gave himself for us in order to deliver us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people as his own who are eager to do good.
15 The Goodness of God Our Savior.[d] These are the things you should expound. Exhort and reprove with all authority. Let no one disregard you.
Chapter 9
Such Sacrifice Will Be Like Mourners’ Bread
1 Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exult like the other nations!
For you have been unfaithful to your God;
you have loved the wages of a prostitute
upon every threshing floor.[a]
2 Threshing floors and winepresses will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not remain in the land of the Lord;
Ephraim will return to Egypt[b]
and eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 No longer will they pour libations of wine to the Lord,
nor will their sacrifices please him.
To them such sacrifice will be like mourners’ bread
that defiles all who eat of it.
Whatever food they have will be for them alone;
it cannot enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the solemn feasts,
on the festival day of the Lord?[c]
6 Even if the people escape destruction,
Egypt will gather them
and Memphis[d] will bury them.
Weeds will swallow up their treasures of silver,
and thorns will overrun their tents.
The Prophet Is Ridiculed
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of retribution are here.
Israel cries out,
“The prophet is a fool,
the inspired man is a maniac.”
Because your iniquity is great,
all the greater is your hostility.
8 The prophet has been appointed by God
to serve as a watchman over Ephraim.
Yet snares await him on all his paths
and he incurs hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have immersed themselves in corruption
as in the days of Gibeah.[e]
God will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.
At the Roots of the Evil of Israel[f]
The Crimes of Baal-peor and Gilgal
10 It was like finding grapes in the desert
when I found Israel.
When I saw your fathers,
it was like seeing the early frost on a fig tree.
However, when they came to Baal-peor,
they consecrated themselves to a shameful idol,
and they became as loathsome as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.
12 Even if they were to bear children,
I will take away from them every single one.
Woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 Ephraim once seemed to me like Tyre,
planted in a beautiful meadow.
But now Ephraim will be required
to lead out his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will you give?
Give them wombs that miscarry[g]
and dried-up breasts.
15 All of their wickedness had its root in Gilgal;[h]
it was there that I came to hate them.
Because of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my house.
I will no longer love them;
all of their rulers are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken;
their root is withered,
and they yield no fruit.
Even if they bring forth children,
I will slay the cherished offspring of their womb.
17 My God will cast them off
because they have not listened to him;
they will become wanderers among the nations.
Psalm 126[a]
God, Our Joy and Our Hope
1 [b]A song of ascents.
When the Lord brought home the captives to Zion,
we seemed to be dreaming.[c]
2 Our mouths were filled with laughter
and our tongues with songs of joy.
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”[d]
3 The Lord has indeed done great deeds for us,
and we are overflowing with joy.[e]
4 [f]Once again restore our fortunes,[g] O Lord,
as you did for the streams in the Negeb.
5 Those who sow in tears[h]
will reap with songs of joy.
6 Those who go forth weeping,
carrying the seeds to be sown,[i]
will return with shouts of joy,
carrying their sheaves.
Psalm 127[j]
Need of Divine Assistance
1 A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
[k]If the Lord does not build the house,[l]
those who construct it labor in vain.
If the Lord does not guard the city,
those who keep watch over it do so in vain.
2 It is useless for you to rise earlier
and delay taking your rest at night,
toiling relentlessly for the bread you eat;
for while those he loves sleep,
he provides all of this for them.[m]
3 [n]Behold, children are a gift from the Lord,
a reward of the fruit of the womb.
4 Like arrows in the hands of a warrior
are the children born in one’s youth.[o]
5 Blessed is the man
who has filled his quiver with them.
He will never be forced to retreat
when he is confronted by his enemies at the city gate.[p]
Psalm 128[q]
Happy Home of the Righteous
1 [r]A song of ascents.
Blessed[s] are all those who fear the Lord
and walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labors;
you will enjoy both blessings and prosperity.[t]
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine[u]
within your house;
your sons will be like shoots of an olive tree
around your table.
4 Such are the blessings that will be bestowed
on the man who fears the Lord.
5 [v]May the Lord bless you from Zion[w]
all the days of your life.
May you rejoice in the prosperity of Jerusalem
6 and live to see your children’s children.[x]
Peace be upon Israel.
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