M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

25 On the 10th day of the 10th month, during the 9th year of his reign, Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon’s king) and his entire army surrounded Jerusalem. They camped outside the city and built siege ramps around it. ² The city remained under siege until the 11th year of Zedekiah’s reign.

³ On the 9th day of the 4th month, there was a food shortage in the city, and no one had anything to eat. Everyone became afraid of starvation. ⁴ The city wall was breached, and all the warriors ran out during the night through the gateway between the two walls near the king’s garden, in spite of the Chaldeans surrounding the city. The warriors went on the Arabah road. ⁵ The Chaldean army chased after the fleeing king and caught up to him in the fields of Jericho. His army dispersed in all directions. ⁶ They took the king captive and escorted him to Babylon’s king at Riblah. Nebuchadnezzar decided on a punishment for the king: ⁷ they killed Zedekiah’s sons right in front of Zedekiah; then they gouged out Zedekiah’s eyes so that the slaughter of his sons was the last thing he ever saw, and they put him in bronze shackles and transported him to Babylon.

⁸ On the 7th day, during the 5th month of Nebuchadnezzar’s 19th year as king over Babylon, Nebuzaradan, a servant of the king and captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s guards, arrived in Jerusalem. ⁹ Nebuzaradan set fire to the Eternal’s temple, the palace, and every house in Jerusalem. He burned down every large house and structure in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ The entire Chaldean army, who was with Nebuzaradan, tore down Jerusalem’s walls. ¹¹ Nebuzaradan captured everyone who was still in the city, even the renegades who had fled to Nebuchadnezzar, and he forced them into exile. ¹² But Nebuzaradan spared the poorest people and left them to take care of the land as farmers and gardeners.

¹³ The Chaldeans took everything of value. They took the bronze pillars, stands, and the bronze sea in the Eternal’s temple; and they broke them up into pieces and took the bronze to Babylon. ¹⁴ They also took the pans, the shovels, the snuffers, the bronze objects, and every bronze cup that was used during the rituals of the temple. ¹⁵ Nebuzaradan took the coal pans and bowls and all the gold and purified silver. ¹⁶ The amount of bronze (including the two bronze pillars, the bronze sea, and the bronze stands Solomon crafted for the Eternal’s temple) was so great that it could not be weighed. ¹⁷ Each pillar was 27 feet high with a bronze capital. The capital was 54 inches high, and it was covered with bronze network and bronze pomegranates. Both pillars were exactly alike.

¹⁸ Nebuzaradan gathered Seraiah, the head priest, and Zephaniah, the second priest, along with the three doorkeepers. ¹⁹ In the city, he gathered up one officer of the army, five of the king’s counselors, the army captain’s aide for mustering the troops, and 60 other Judahite men. ²⁰ Nebuzaradan (captain of the guard) escorted them to Babylon’s king at Riblah. ²¹ Nebuchadnezzar killed them all at Riblah in Hamath. Thus Judah was separated from the land and forced into exile.

²² Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had allowed some people to remain in Judah, so he appointed Gedaliah (son of Ahikam, Shaphan’s son) to govern the land. ²³ When all the army commanders received word that Nebuchadnezzar had appointed Gedeliah to govern the land, they went to visit Gedeliah in Mizpah. Those who visited him were Ishmael (Nethaniah’s son), Johanan (Kareah’s son), Seraiah (Tanhumeth the Netophathite’s son), and Jaazaniah (the Maacathite’s son), including their men. ²⁴ Gedaliah attempted to assuage them and swore an oath before them.

²⁵ But during the 7th month, Ishmael, (son of Nethaniah, Elishama’s son) of the royal family, attacked Gedaliah with 10 male accomplices. Gedaliah and all the Jews and Chaldeans at Mizpah were killed. ²⁶ Everyone in the community, both rich and poor, even the commanders of the army, traveled to Egypt because they greatly feared the Chaldeans.

²⁷ On the 27th day of the 12th month during the 37th year of the exile of Jehoiachin (Judah’s king), Evil-merodach (Babylon’s king) released Jehoiachin from prison. Evil-merodach did this the same year he inherited the throne. ²⁸ Evil-merodach was good to Jehoiachin, and he gave Jehoiachin an honorary throne that was higher than all the thrones of the other kings held captive in Babylon. ²⁹ Jehoiachin removed his prison garments and put on new clothes. He ate his meals with the king every day for the rest of his life. ³⁰ The king also gave him a stipend on a daily basis for the rest of his life.

7 In the Book of Genesis, we read about when Melchizedek, the king of Salem and priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from defeating King Chedorlaomer and his allies. Melchizedek blessed our ancestor, and ² Abraham gave him a tenth of everything captured in the battle.^[a]

Let’s look more closely at Melchizedek. First, his name means “king of righteousness”; and his title, king of Salem, means “king of peace.” ³ The Scriptures don’t name his mother or father or descendants, and they don’t record his birth or his death. We could say he’s like the Son of God: eternal, a priest forever.

⁴ And just imagine how great this man was, that even our great and honorable patriarch Abraham gave him a tenth of the spoils. ⁵ Compare him to the priests who serve in our temple, the descendants of Levi, who were given a commandment in the law of Moses to collect one-tenth of the income of the tribes of Israel. The priests took that tithe from their own people, even though they were also descended from Abraham. ⁶ But this man, Melchizedek, who did not belong to that Levite ancestry, collected a tenth part of Abraham’s income; and although Abraham had received the promises, it was Melchizedek who blessed Abraham. ⁷ Now I don’t have to tell you that it is the lesser one who receives a blessing from the greater. ⁸ In the case of the priests descended from Levi, they are mortal men who receive a tithe of one-tenth; but the Scriptures record no death of Melchizedek, the one who received Abraham’s tithe. ⁹ I guess you could even say that Levi, who receives our tithes, originally paid tithes through Abraham ¹⁰ because he was still unborn and only a part of his ancestor when Abraham met Melchizedek.

¹¹ If a perfect method of reconciling with God—a perfect priesthood—had been found in the sons of Levi (a priesthood that communicated God’s law to the people), then why would the Scriptures speak of another priest, a priest according to the order of Melchizedek, instead of, say, from the order of Aaron? What would be the need for it? It would reflect a new way of relating to God ¹² because when there is a change in the priesthood there must be a corresponding change in the law as well. ¹³ We’re talking about someone who comes from another tribe, from which no member has ever served at God’s altar. ¹⁴ It’s clear that Jesus, our Lord, descended from the tribe of Judah; but Moses never spoke about priests from that tribe. ¹⁵ Doesn’t it seem obvious? Jesus is a priest who resembles Melchizedek in so many ways; ¹⁶ He is someone who has become a priest, not because of some requirement about human lineage, but because of the power of a life without end. ¹⁷ Remember, the psalmist says,

¹⁸ Because the earlier commandment was weak and did not reconcile us to God effectively, it was set aside— ¹⁹ after all, the law could not make anyone or anything perfect. God has now introduced a new and better hope, through which we may draw near to Him, ²⁰ and confirmed it by swearing to it. ²¹ The Levite order of priests took office without an oath, but this man Jesus became a priest through God’s oath:

²² So we can see that Jesus has become the guarantee of a new and better covenant. ²³ Further, the prior priesthood of the sons of Levi has included many priests because death cut short their service, ²⁴ but Jesus holds His priesthood permanently because He lives His resurrected life forever. ²⁵ From such a vantage, He is able to save those who approach God through Him for all time because He will forever live to be their advocate in the presence of God.

²⁶ It is only fitting that we should have a High Priest who is devoted to God, blameless, pure, compassionate toward but separate from sinners, and exalted by God to the highest place of honor. ²⁷ Unlike other high priests, He does not first need to make atonement every day for His own sins, and only then for His people’s, because He already made atonement, reconciling us with God once and forever when He offered Himself as a sacrifice. ²⁸ The law made imperfect men high priests; but after that law was given, God swore an oath that made His perfected Son a high priest for all time.

1 These are the words of Amos, one of the shepherds in Tekoa, a city in the highlands of Judah. God gave him these visions regarding Israel in the time of Uzziah (who ruled Judah) and Jeroboam (the son of Joash, who ruled Israel) two years before the great earthquake.

So says the Eternal about Aram, Israel’s constant enemy to the northeast.

So says the Eternal Lord about Philistia, Israel’s enemy in the southwest.

⁹ Here is what the Eternal says about Tyre, that maritime power to the northwest:

¹¹ Here is what the Eternal says about Edom, our neighbor to the southeast:

¹³ Here is what the Eternal says about Ammon, just northeast of the Jordan:

So says the Eternal One.

Psalm 144

A song of David.