M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

29 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. ² His reign was generally good in the Lord’s sight, just as his ancestor David’s had been.

³ In the very first month of the first year of his reign, he reopened the doors of the Temple and repaired them. ^4-5 He summoned the priests and Levites to meet him at the open space east of the Temple and addressed them thus:

“Listen to me, you Levites. Sanctify yourselves and sanctify the Temple of the Lord God of your ancestors—clean all the debris from the holy place. ⁶ For our fathers have committed a deep sin before the Lord our God; they abandoned the Lord and his Temple and turned their backs on it. ⁷ The doors have been shut tight, the perpetual flame has been put out, and the incense and burnt offerings have not been offered. ⁸ Therefore, the wrath of the Lord has been upon Judah and Jerusalem. He has caused us to be objects of horror, amazement, and contempt, as you see us today. ⁹ Our fathers have been killed in war, and our sons and daughters and wives are in captivity because of this.

¹⁰ “But now I want to make a covenant with the Lord God of Israel so that his fierce anger will turn away from us. ¹¹ My children, don’t neglect your duties any longer, for the Lord has chosen you to minister to him and to burn incense.”

^12-14 Then the Levites went into action:

¹⁵ They in turn summoned their fellow Levites and sanctified themselves, and began to clean up and sanctify the Temple, as the king (who was speaking for the Lord) had commanded them. ¹⁶ The priests cleaned up the inner room of the Temple and brought out into the court all the filth and decay they found there. The Levites then carted it out to Kidron Brook. ¹⁷ This all began on the first day of April, and by the eighth day they had reached the outer court, which took eight days to clean up, so the entire job was completed in sixteen days.

¹⁸ Then they went back to the palace and reported to King Hezekiah, “We have completed the cleansing of the Temple and of the altar of burnt offerings and of its accessories, also the table of the Bread of the Presence and its equipment. ¹⁹ What’s more, we have recovered and sanctified all the utensils thrown away by King Ahaz when he closed the Temple. They are beside the altar of the Lord.”

²⁰ Early the next morning King Hezekiah went to the Temple with the city officials, ²¹ taking seven young bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven male goats for a sin offering for the nation and for the Temple.

He instructed the priests, the sons of Aaron, to sacrifice them on the altar of the Lord. ²² So they killed the young bulls, and the priests took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar, and they killed the rams and sprinkled their blood upon the altar, and did the same with the lambs. ²³ The male goats for the sin offering were then brought before the king and his officials, who laid their hands upon them. ²⁴ Then the priests killed the animals and made a sin offering with their blood upon the altar to make atonement for all Israel, as the king had commanded—for the king had specified that the burnt offering and sin offering must be sacrificed for the entire nation.

^25-26 He organized Levites at the Temple into an orchestral group, using cymbals, psalteries, and harps. This was in accordance with the directions of David and the prophets Gad and Nathan, who had received their instructions from the Lord. The priests formed a trumpet corps. ²⁷ Then Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be placed upon the altar, and as the sacrifice began, the instruments of music began to play the songs of the Lord, accompanied by the trumpets. ²⁸ Throughout the entire ceremony everyone worshiped the Lord as the singers sang and the trumpets blew. ²⁹ Afterwards the king and his aides bowed low before the Lord in worship. ³⁰ Then King Hezekiah ordered the Levites to sing before the Lord some of the psalms of David and of the prophet Asaph, which they gladly did, and bowed their heads and worshiped.

³¹ “The consecration ceremony is now ended,” Hezekiah said. “Now bring your sacrifices and thank offerings.” So the people from every part of the nation brought their sacrifices and thank offerings, and those who wished to brought burnt offerings too. ^32-33 In all, there were 70 young bulls for burnt offerings, 100 rams, and 200 lambs. In addition, 600 oxen and 3,000 sheep were brought as holy gifts. ³⁴ But there were too few priests to prepare the burnt offerings, so their brothers the Levites helped them until the work was finished—and until more priests had reported to work—for the Levites were much more ready to sanctify themselves than the priests were. ³⁵ There was an abundance of burnt offerings, and the usual drink offering with each, and many peace offerings. So it was that the Temple was restored to service, and the sacrifices offered again. ³⁶ And Hezekiah and all the people were very happy because of what God had accomplished so quickly.

15 And I saw in heaven another mighty pageant showing things to come: Seven angels were assigned to carry down to earth the seven last plagues—and then at last God’s anger will be finished.

² Spread out before me was what seemed to be an ocean of fire and glass, and on it stood all those who had been victorious over the Evil Creature and his statue and his mark and number. All were holding harps of God, ^3-4 and they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

⁵ Then I looked and saw that the Holy of Holies of the temple in heaven was thrown wide open!

⁶ The seven angels who were assigned to pour out the seven plagues then came from the temple, clothed in spotlessly white linen, with golden belts across their chests. ⁷ And one of the four Living Beings handed each of them a golden flask filled with the terrible wrath of the Living God who lives forever and forever. ⁸ The temple was filled with smoke from his glory and power; and no one could enter until the seven angels had completed pouring out the seven plagues.

11 Open your doors, O Lebanon, to judgment.^[a] You will be destroyed as though by fire raging through your forests. ² Weep, O cypress trees, for all the ruined cedars; the tallest and most beautiful of them are fallen. Cry in fear, you oaks of Bashan, as you watch the thickest forests felled. ³ Listen to the wailing of Israel’s leaders—all these evil shepherds—for their wealth is gone. Hear the young lions roaring—the princes are weeping, for their glorious Jordan Valley lies in ruins.

⁴ Then said the Lord my God to me, “Go and take a job as shepherd of a flock being fattened for the butcher. ⁵ This will illustrate the way my people have been bought and slain by wicked leaders, who go unpunished. ‘Thank God, now I am rich!’ say those who have betrayed them—their own shepherds have sold them without mercy. ⁶ And I won’t spare them either,” says the Lord, “for I will let them fall into the clutches of their own wicked leaders, and they will slay them. They shall turn the land into a wilderness, and I will not protect it from them.”

⁷ So I took two shepherd’s staffs, naming one Grace and the other Union, and I fed the flock as I had been told to do. ⁸ And I got rid of their three evil shepherds in a single month. But I became impatient with these sheep—this nation—and they hated me too.

⁹ So I told them, “I won’t be your shepherd any longer. If you die, you die; if you are killed, I don’t care. Go ahead and destroy yourselves!”

¹⁰ And I took my staff called Grace and snapped it in two, showing that I had broken my contract to lead and protect them. ¹¹ That was the end of the agreement. Then those who bought and sold sheep, who were watching, realized that God was telling them something through what I did.

¹² And I said to their leaders, “If you like, give me my pay, whatever I am worth; but only if you want to.”

So they counted out thirty little silver coins^[b] as my wages.

¹³ And the Lord told me, “Use it to buy a field from the pottery makers^[c]—this magnificent sum they value you at!”

So I took the thirty coins and threw them into the Temple for the pottery makers. ¹⁴ Then I broke my other staff, “Union,” to show that the bond of unity between Judah and Israel was broken.

¹⁵ Then the Lord told me to go again and get a job as a shepherd; this time I was to act the part of a worthless, wicked shepherd.

¹⁶ And he said to me, “This illustrates how I will give this nation a shepherd who will not care for the dying ones, nor look after the young, nor heal the broken bones, nor feed the healthy ones, nor carry the lame that cannot walk; instead, he will eat the fat ones, even tearing off their feet. ¹⁷ Woe to this worthless shepherd who doesn’t care for the flock. God’s sword will cut his arm and pierce through his right eye; his arm will become useless and his right eye blinded.”

14 “Let not your heart be troubled. You are trusting God, now trust in me. ^2-3 There are many homes up there where my Father lives, and I am going to prepare them for your coming. When everything is ready, then I will come and get you, so that you can always be with me where I am. If this weren’t so, I would tell you plainly. ⁴ And you know where I am going and how to get there.”

⁵ “No, we don’t,” Thomas said. “We haven’t any idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus told him, “I am the Way—yes, and the Truth and the Life. No one can get to the Father except by means of me. ⁷ If you had known who I am, then you would have known who my Father is. From now on you know him—and have seen him!”

⁸ Philip said, “Sir, show us the Father and we will be satisfied.”

⁹ Jesus replied, “Don’t you even yet know who I am, Philip, even after all this time I have been with you? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking to see him? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say are not my own but are from my Father who lives in me. And he does his work through me. ¹¹ Just believe it—that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or else believe it because of the mighty miracles you have seen me do.

^12-13 “In solemn truth I tell you, anyone believing in me shall do the same miracles I have done, and even greater ones, because I am going to be with the Father. You can ask him for anything, using my name, and I will do it, for this will bring praise to the Father because of what I, the Son, will do for you. ¹⁴ Yes, ask anything, using my name, and I will do it!

^15-16 “If you love me, obey me; and I will ask the Father and he will give you another Comforter, and he will never leave you. ¹⁷ He is the Holy Spirit, the Spirit who leads into all truth. The world at large cannot receive him, for it isn’t looking for him and doesn’t recognize him. But you do, for he lives with you now and some day shall be in you. ¹⁸ No, I will not abandon you or leave you as orphans in the storm—I will come to you. ¹⁹ In just a little while I will be gone from the world, but I will still be present with you. For I will live again—and you will too. ²⁰ When I come back to life again, you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. ²¹ The one who obeys me is the one who loves me; and because he loves me, my Father will love him; and I will too, and I will reveal myself to him.”

²² Judas (not Judas Iscariot, but his other disciple with that name) said to him, “Sir, why are you going to reveal yourself only to us disciples and not to the world at large?”

²³ Jesus replied, “Because I will only reveal myself to those who love me and obey me. The Father will love them too, and we will come to them and live with them. ²⁴ Anyone who doesn’t obey me doesn’t love me. And remember, I am not making up this answer to your question! It is the answer given by the Father who sent me.

²⁵ “I am telling you these things now while I am still with you. ²⁶ But when the Father sends the Comforter^[a] instead of me—and by the Comforter I mean the Holy Spirit—he will teach you much, as well as remind you of everything I myself have told you.

²⁷ “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.^{[b] 28} Remember what I told you—I am going away, but I will come back to you again. If you really love me, you will be very happy for me, for now I can go to the Father, who is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you these things before they happen so that when they do, you will believe in me.^[c]

³⁰ “I don’t have much more time to talk to you, for the evil prince of this world approaches. He has no power over me, ³¹ but I will freely do what the Father requires of me so that the world will know that I love the Father. Come, let’s be going.