M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

15 ^1-2 New king of Judah: Azariah

³ Azariah was a good king, and he pleased the Lord just as his father Amaziah had. ⁴ But like his predecessors, he didn’t destroy the shrines on the hills where the people sacrificed and burned incense. ⁵ Because of this^[a] the Lord struck him with leprosy, which lasted until the day of his death; so he lived in a house by himself. And his son Jotham was the acting king. ⁶ The rest of the history of Azariah is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. ⁷ When Azariah died, he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Jotham became king.

⁹ But Zechariah was an evil king in the Lord’s sight, just like his ancestors. Like Jeroboam I (the son of Nebat), he encouraged Israel in the sin of worshiping idols. ¹⁰ Then Shallum (the son of Jabesh) conspired against him and assassinated him at Ibleam and took the crown himself. ¹¹ The rest of the history of Zechariah’s reign is found in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. ¹² (So the Lord’s statement to Jehu came true, that Jehu’s son, grandson, and great-grandson would be kings of Israel.^[b])

¹⁴ One month after Shallum became king, Menahem (the son of Gadi) came to Samaria from Tirzah and assassinated him and took the throne. ¹⁵ Additional details about King Shallum and his conspiracy^[c] are recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

¹⁶ Menahem destroyed the city of Tappuah and the surrounding countryside, for its citizens refused to accept him as their king; he killed the entire population and ripped open the pregnant women.

¹⁸ But Menahem was an evil king. He worshiped idols, as King Jeroboam I had done so long before, and he led the people of Israel into grievous sin. ^19-20 Then King Pul of Assyria invaded the land; but King Menahem bought him off with a gift of $2,000,000, so he turned around and returned home. Menahem extorted the money from the rich, assessing each one $2,000 in the form of a special tax. ²¹ The rest of the history of King Menahem is written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. ²² When he died, his son Pekahiah became the new king.

²⁴ But Pekahiah was an evil king, and he continued the idol worship begun by Jeroboam I (son of Nebat) who led Israel down that evil trail.

²⁵ Then Pekah (son of Remaliah), the commanding general of his army, conspired against him with fifty men from Gilead and assassinated him in the palace at Samaria (Argob and Arieh were also slain in the revolt). So Pekah became the new king. ²⁶ The rest of the history of King Pekahiah is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

²⁸ Pekah, too, was an evil king, and he continued in the example of Jeroboam I (son of Nebat), who led all of Israel into the sin of worshiping idols. ²⁹ It was during his reign that King Tiglath-pileser^[d] led an attack against Israel. He captured the cities of Ijon, Abel-beth-maacah, Janoah, Kedesh, Hazor, Gilead, Galilee, and all the land of Naphtali; and he took the people away to Assyria as captives. ³⁰ Then Hoshea (the son of Elah) plotted against Pekah and assassinated him; and he took the throne for himself.

³¹ The rest of the history of Pekah’s reign is recorded in The Annals of the Kings of Israel.

^34-35 Generally speaking, Jotham was a good king. Like his father Uzziah, he followed the Lord. But he didn’t destroy the shrines on the hills where the people sacrificed and burned incense. It was during King Jotham’s reign that the upper gate of the Temple of the Lord was built. ³⁶ The rest of Jotham’s history is written in The Annals of the Kings of Judah. ³⁷ In those days the Lord caused King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel to attack Judah. ³⁸ When Jotham died he was buried with the other kings of Judah in the royal cemetery, in the City of David section of Jerusalem. Then his son Ahaz became the new king.

1 ^1-2 From: Paul, the slave of God and the messenger of Jesus Christ.

I have been sent to bring faith to those God has chosen and to teach them to know God’s truth—the kind of truth that changes lives—so that they can have eternal life, which God promised them before the world began—and he cannot lie. ³ And now in his own good time he has revealed this Good News and permits me to tell it to everyone. By command of God our Savior, I have been trusted to do this work for him.

⁴ To: Titus, who is truly my son in the affairs of the Lord.

May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Savior give you his blessings and his peace.

⁵ I left you there on the island of Crete so that you could do whatever was needed to help strengthen each of its churches, and I asked you to appoint pastors^[a] in every city who would follow the instructions I gave you. ⁶ The men you choose must be well thought of for their good lives; they must have only one wife and their children must love the Lord and not have a reputation for being wild or disobedient to their parents.

⁷ These pastors must be men of blameless lives because they are God’s ministers. They must not be proud or impatient; they must not be drunkards or fighters or greedy for money. ⁸ They must enjoy having guests in their homes and must love all that is good. They must be sensible men, and fair. They must be clean minded and level headed. ⁹ Their belief in the truth that they have been taught must be strong and steadfast so that they will be able to teach it to others and show those who disagree with them where they are wrong.

¹⁰ For there are many who refuse to obey; this is especially true among those who say that all Christians must obey the Jewish laws. But this is foolish talk; it blinds people to the truth, ¹¹ and it must be stopped. Already whole families have been turned away from the grace of God. Such teachers are only after your money. ¹² One of their own men, a prophet from Crete, has said about them, “These men of Crete are all liars; they are like lazy animals, living only to satisfy their stomachs.” ¹³ And this is true. So speak to the Christians there as sternly as necessary to make them strong in the faith ¹⁴ and to stop them from listening to Jewish folk tales and the demands of men who have turned their backs on the truth.

¹⁵ A person who is pure of heart sees goodness and purity in everything; but a person whose own heart is evil and untrusting finds evil in everything, for his dirty mind and rebellious heart color all he sees and hears. ¹⁶ Such persons claim they know God, but from seeing the way they act, one knows they don’t. They are rotten and disobedient, worthless so far as doing anything good is concerned.

8 “Sound the alarm! They are coming! Like a vulture, the enemy descends upon the people of God because they have broken my treaty and revolted against my laws.

² “Now Israel pleads with me and says, ‘Help us, for you are our God!’ ³ But it is too late! Israel has thrown away her chance with contempt, and now her enemies will chase her. ⁴ She has appointed kings and princes, but not with my consent. They have cut themselves off from my help by worshiping the idols that they made from their silver and gold.

⁵ “O Samaria, I reject this calf—this idol you have made. My fury burns against you. How long will it be before one honest man is found among you? ⁶ When will you admit this calf you worship was made by human hands! It is not God! Therefore, it must be smashed to bits.

⁷ “They have sown the wind, and they will reap the whirlwind. Their cornstalks stand there barren, withered, sickly, with no grain; if it has any, foreigners will eat it.

⁸ “Israel is destroyed; she lies among the nations as a broken pot. ⁹ She is a lonely, wandering wild ass. The only friends she has are those she hires; Assyria is one of them.

¹⁰ “But though she hires ‘friends’ from many lands, I will send her off to exile. Then for a while at least she will be free of the burden of her wonderful king! ¹¹ Ephraim has built many altars, but they are not to worship me! They are altars of sin! ¹² Even if I gave her ten thousand laws, she’d say they weren’t for her—that they applied to someone far away. ¹³ Her people love the ritual of their sacrifice, but to me it is meaningless! I will call for an accounting of their sins and punish them; they shall return to Egypt.

¹⁴ “Israel has built great palaces; Judah has constructed great defenses for her cities, but they have forgotten their Maker. Therefore, I will send down fire upon those palaces and burn those fortresses.”

123 O God enthroned in heaven, I lift my eyes to you.

² We look to Jehovah our God for his mercy and kindness just as a servant keeps his eyes upon his master or a slave girl watches her mistress for the slightest signal.

^3-4 Have mercy on us, Lord, have mercy. For we have had our fill of contempt and of the scoffing of the rich and proud.

124 If the Lord had not been on our side (let all Israel admit it), if the Lord had not been on our side, ^2-3 we would have been swallowed alive by our enemies, destroyed by their anger. ^4-5 We would have drowned beneath the flood of these men’s fury and pride.

⁶ Blessed be Jehovah who has not let them devour us. ⁷ We have escaped with our lives as a bird from a hunter’s snare. The snare is broken and we are free!

⁸ Our help is from the Lord who made heaven and earth.

125 Those who trust in the Lord are steady as Mount Zion, unmoved by any circumstance.

² Just as the mountains surround and protect Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds and protects his people. ³ For the wicked shall not rule the godly, lest the godly be forced to do wrong. ⁴ O Lord, do good to those who are good, whose hearts are right with the Lord; ⁵ but lead evil men to execution. And let Israel have quietness and peace.