M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
The Great Passover Celebration
30 Hezekiah sent messengers to all Israel and Judah. He also wrote letters inviting Ephraim and Manasseh to come to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover for the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 The king, his officials, and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had made plans to celebrate the Passover in the second month. 3 They were not able to celebrate it at its proper time, because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, and the people had not assembled in Jerusalem.
4 The plan seemed right in the eyes of the king and in the eyes of the whole assembly. 5 So they decided to issue a proclamation throughout Israel from Beersheba to Dan to come to observe the Passover for the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, because they had not been celebrating it with large numbers of people as had been commanded. 6 Runners were sent out with letters from the hand of the king and from his officials to all Israel and Judah. Because of the command of the king, they made the following announcement:
People of Israel! Return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, and he will return to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria.
7 You must not be like your fathers or like your brothers, who were unfaithful to the Lord, the God of their fathers. That is why he gave them up to desolation, as you see.
8 Now you must not be stiff-necked like your fathers. Give your hand[a] to the Lord. Come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever. Serve the Lord your God, so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.
9 For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will be shown compassion in the presence of their captors and be permitted to return to this land, for the Lord your God is gracious and merciful. He will not turn his face away from you if you return to him.
10 The runners went from city to city through the land of Ephraim and Manasseh and even as far as Zebulun, but people laughed at them and ridiculed them. 11 Nevertheless, some men from Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem.
12 But in Judah the hand of God was present to give them one heart to follow the command of the king and the command of the officials, in agreement with the word of the Lord. 13 Many people gathered in Jerusalem to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread in the second month—a very great assembly.
14 They quickly removed the altars from Jerusalem. They took away all the altars for burning incense and threw them into the Kidron Valley.
15 They slaughtered the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and the Levites had been put to shame, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the House of the Lord. 16 They took up their positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The priests splashed the blood, which was given to them by the Levites, against the altar. 17 Because many of the assembly had not consecrated themselves,[b] the Levites carried out the slaughtering of the Passover lambs for everyone who was not ceremonially clean, to make them holy to the Lord.
18 A large number of the people, many of whom were from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not purified themselves, but they ate the Passover anyway, in a manner not in keeping with what is written. So Hezekiah prayed for them: “May the good Lord pardon everyone all around, 19 that is, everyone who seeks God the Lord, the God of his fathers, with all his heart, even though he does not have the ceremonial purity required by the holy place.”
20 The Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
21 The people of Israel who were present in Jerusalem observed the Festival of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great rejoicing. The Levites and the priests praised the Lord day by day with loud instruments for the Lord.
22 Hezekiah encouraged the hearts of all the Levites, who displayed wonderful skills in service of the Lord. They ate the food of the festival for the appointed seven days, presenting fellowship sacrifices and giving thanks to the Lord, the God of their fathers.
23 The entire assembly agreed to celebrate for another seven days. They gladly did it for another seven days, 24 because Hezekiah king of Judah provided one thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for the assembly, and the officials contributed one thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep for the assembly. The priests consecrated themselves in great number.
25 The whole assembly of Judah rejoiced together with the priests, the Levites, the entire assembly from Israel, the aliens who resided in the land of Israel, and the people who lived in Judah. 26 There was great joy in Jerusalem, because since the time of Solomon, the son of David, the king of Israel, there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem.
27 Then the levitical priests arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard. Their prayer ascended to the Lord’s holy dwelling in heaven.
The First Five Bowls
16 I heard a loud voice from the temple say to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.”
2 The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and horrible and painful sores came on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshipped his image.
3 The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it became blood like that of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they[a] turned into blood. 5 And I heard the angel of the waters say:
You are righteous, the one who is and who was, the Holy One,[b]
because you have made these judgments.
6 Because they poured out the blood of saints and prophets,
you have given them blood to drink.
They deserve it.
7 And I heard the incense altar, saying,[c] “Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to burn people with fire. 9 People were scorched by the fierce heat. Then they blasphemed the name of God, who had authority over these plagues, but they did not repent and give him praise.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. The beast’s kingdom was darkened. People gnawed their tongues in their torment. 11 They blasphemed the God of heaven because of their torments and their sores. But they did not repent of their deeds.
The Sixth Bowl: The Battle of Armageddon
12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings coming from the east. 13 I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, which came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are, in fact, miracle-working, demonic spirits, which go out to the kings of the whole earth[d] to bring them together for the battle on the great day of the Almighty God.
15 “Look: I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes on, so that he does not walk around naked and his shame is not seen.”
16 Then they brought them together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
The Seventh Bowl: The End of the World
17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl on the air. And a loud voice came out of the temple[e] from the throne, saying, “It is done.” 18 There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and crashes of thunder. There was also a great earthquake of a kind that has not occurred since mankind has been[f] on the earth.
19 And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. Babylon the Great was remembered by God, and he gave her the wine cup filled with his fierce wrath. 20 Every island vanished, and the mountains could no longer be found. 21 Massive hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell on people from the sky. And the people blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, because the plague was so severe.
The Lord Will Give Victory to Jerusalem
12 An oracle, the word of the Lord concerning Israel. This is what the Lord declares, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of a man within him:
2 Look! I will make Jerusalem a cup that causes all the surrounding peoples to stagger. When there is a siege against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah. 3 On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will be seriously injured, and all the nations of the earth will be gathered together against it.
4 On that day, declares the Lord, I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness. But I will keep my eye on the house of Judah, and I will strike with blindness every horse that belongs to the other peoples. 5 Each of the leaders of the clans of Judah will say in his heart, “The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength through the Lord of Armies, their God.”
6 On that day I will make the leaders of the clans of Judah like a firepot that ignites the woods, and like a flaming torch among the sheaves. They will devour all the surrounding peoples, on the right and on the left. The people of Jerusalem will once again live in their own place—in Jerusalem!
7 The Lord also will save the tents of Judah first, so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not become greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Anyone among them who is feeble will be like David on that day, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord, before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
They Will Mourn for the One They Pierced
10 “I[a] will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace, who pleads for mercy.[b] Then they will look at me, the one they have pierced.”
They will mourn for him[c] as one mourns for an only child. They will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves over his firstborn. 11 On that day there will be great mourning in Jerusalem, as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon[d] in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each family by itself: the family of the house of David by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of the house of Nathan[e] by itself, and their wives by themselves; 13 the family of the house of Levi by itself, and their wives by themselves; the family of Shimei[f] by itself, and their wives by themselves; 14 all the families that remain, each family by itself, and their wives by themselves.
A Fountain to Wash Away Sin
13 On that day[g] a fountain will be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.
No Greater Love—in Good Fruit
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.[a] 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he is going to cut off. And he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will bear more fruit.
3 “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, and I am going to remain in you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Likewise, you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the Vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him is the one who bears much fruit, because without me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers. Such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you continue to bear much fruit and prove to be[b] my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so also I have loved you. Remain in my love. 10 If you hold on to my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have held on to my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that my joy would continue to be in you and that your joy would be complete.
12 “This is my command: Love one another as I have loved you. 13 No one has greater love than this: that someone lays down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you continue to do the things I instruct you. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will endure, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 These things I am instructing you, so that you love one another.
18 “If the world hates you, you know that it hated me first. 19 If you were of the world, the world would love its own. However, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of it, for that very reason the world hates you. 20 Remember the saying I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you too. If they held on to my word, they will hold on to yours as well. 21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 The one who hates me also hates my Father. 24 If I had not done the works among them that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 This was to fulfill the word which is written in their Law: ‘They hated me for no reason.’[c]
26 “When the Counselor comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father—he will testify about me. 27 And you also are going to testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.”
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.