M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Judah’s King Manasseh
21 Manasseh(A) was 12 years old when he became king and reigned 55 years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Hephzibah.(B) 2 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight,(C) imitating the detestable practices of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(D) 3 He rebuilt the high places that his father Hezekiah had destroyed(E) and reestablished the altars for Baal. He made an Asherah,(F) as King Ahab of Israel had done;(G) he also worshiped the whole heavenly host(H) and served them. 4 He built altars in the Lord’s temple,(I) where the Lord had said, “Jerusalem is where I will put My name.”(J) 5 He built altars to the whole heavenly host(K) in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple.(L) 6 He made his son pass through the fire,(M) practiced witchcraft and divination, and consulted mediums and spiritists.(N) He did a great amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, provoking Him.(O)
7 Manasseh set up the carved image of Asherah, which he made, in the temple that the Lord had spoken about to David and his son Solomon, “I will establish My name forever in this temple and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel.(P) 8 I will never again cause the feet of the Israelites to wander from the land I gave to their ancestors if only they will be careful to do all I have commanded them—the whole law that My servant Moses commanded them.”(Q) 9 But they did not listen; Manasseh caused them to stray so that they did greater evil than the nations the Lord had destroyed before the Israelites.(R)
10 The Lord spoke through His servants the prophets, saying, 11 “Since Manasseh king of Judah has committed all these detestable things(S)—greater evil than the Amorites(T) who preceded him had done—and by means of his idols has also caused Judah to sin, 12 this is what the Lord God of Israel says: ‘I am about to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that everyone who hears about it will shudder.(U) 13 I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line used on Samaria and the mason’s level used on the house of Ahab,(V) and I will wipe(W) Jerusalem clean as one wipes a bowl—wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 I will abandon the remnant(X) of My inheritance and hand them over to their enemies. They will become plunder and spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in My sight and have provoked Me from the day their ancestors came out of Egypt until today.’”(Y)
16 Manasseh also shed so much innocent blood that he filled Jerusalem with it from one end to another.(Z) This was in addition to his sin that he caused Judah to commit. Consequently, they did what was evil in the Lord’s sight.
Manasseh’s Death
17 The rest(AA) of the events of Manasseh’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and the sin that he committed, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings.(AB) 18 Manasseh rested with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his own house, the garden of Uzza. His son Amon became king in his place.
Judah’s King Amon
19 Amon was 22 years old when he became king(AC) and reigned two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Meshullemeth daughter of Haruz; she was from Jotbah. 20 He did what was evil in the Lord’s sight as his father Manasseh had done.(AD) 21 He walked in all the ways his father had walked; he served the idols his father had served, and he worshiped them.(AE) 22 He abandoned the Lord God of his ancestors(AF) and did not walk in the way of the Lord.(AG)
23 Amon’s servants conspired against the king and killed him in his own house.(AH) 24 Then the common people[a] executed(AI) all those who had conspired against King Amon and made his son Josiah(AJ) king in his place.
25 The rest of the events of Amon’s reign, along with his accomplishments, are written in the Historical Record of Judah’s Kings. 26 He was buried in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and his son Josiah became king in his place.
Our Apostle and High Priest
3 Therefore, holy brothers and companions in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession;(A) 2 He was faithful to the One who appointed Him, just as Moses was in all God’s household. 3 For Jesus is considered worthy of more glory than Moses, just as the builder has more honor than the house. 4 Now every house is built by someone, but the One who built everything is God.(B) 5 Moses was faithful as a servant(C) in all God’s household, as a testimony to what would be said in the future. 6 But Christ was faithful as a Son over His household. And we are that household if we hold on to the courage and the confidence of our hope.[a](D)
Warning against Unbelief
7 Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says:
Today, if you hear His voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
on the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested Me, tried Me,
and saw My works 10 for 40 years.
Therefore I was provoked with that generation
and said, “They always go astray in their hearts,
and they have not known My ways.”
11 So I swore in My anger,
“They will not enter My rest.”(E)[b]
12 Watch out, brothers, so that there won’t be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart that departs from the living God. 13 But encourage each other daily, while it is still called today, so that none of you is hardened by sin’s deception.(F) 14 For we have become companions of the Messiah if we hold firmly until the end the reality[c] that we had at the start.(G) 15 As it is said:
16 For who heard and rebelled? Wasn’t it really all who came out of Egypt under Moses?(I) 17 And who was He provoked with for 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?(J) 18 And who did He swear to that they would not enter His rest, if not those who disobeyed? 19 So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.
A Plea to Repent
14 Israel, return to Yahweh your God,(A)
for you have stumbled in your sin.(B)
2 Take words of repentance with you(C)
and return to the Lord.
Say to Him: “Forgive all our sin
and accept what is good,
so that we may repay You
with praise[a] from our[b] lips.(D)
3 Assyria will not save us,(E)
we will not ride on horses,(F)
and we will no longer proclaim, ‘Our gods!’(G)
to the work of our hands.(H)
For the fatherless receives compassion in You.”(I)
A Promise of Restoration
4 I will heal their apostasy;(J)
I will freely love them,(K)
for My anger will have turned from him.(L)
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;(M)
he will blossom like the lily(N)
and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.(O)
6 His new branches will spread,
and his splendor will be like the olive tree,(P)
his fragrance, like the forest of Lebanon.(Q)
7 The people will return and live beneath his shade.(R)
They will grow grain(S)
and blossom like the vine.
His renown will be like the wine of Lebanon.
Psalm 139
The All-Knowing, Ever-Present God
For the choir director. A Davidic psalm.
1 Lord, You have searched me and known me.(A)
2 You know when I sit down and when I stand up;
You understand my thoughts from far away.(B)
3 You observe my travels and my rest;
You are aware of all my ways.(C)
4 Before a word is on my tongue,
You know all about it, Lord.(D)
5 You have encircled me;
You have placed Your hand on me.(E)
6 This extraordinary knowledge is beyond me.
It is lofty; I am unable to reach it.(F)
7 Where can I go to escape Your Spirit?
Where can I flee from Your presence?(G)
8 If I go up to heaven, You are there;(H)
if I make my bed in Sheol, You are there.(I)
9 If I live at the eastern horizon
or settle at the western limits,[a]
10 even there Your hand will lead me;
Your right hand will hold on to me.(J)
11 If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me,
and the light around me will be night”(K)—
12 even the darkness is not dark to You.
The night shines like the day;
darkness and light are alike to You.(L)
13 For it was You who created my inward parts;[b]
You knit me together in my mother’s womb.(M)
14 I will praise You
because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made.[c][d]
Your works are wonderful,
and I know this very well.(N)
15 My bones were not hidden from You
when I was made in secret,
when I was formed in the depths of the earth.(O)
16 Your eyes saw me when I was formless;
all my days were written in Your book and planned
before a single one of them began.(P)
17 God, how difficult[e] Your thoughts are
for me to comprehend;
how vast their sum is!
18 If I counted them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand;(Q)
when I wake up,[f] I am still with You.(R)
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