M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Josiah Makes Judah a Better Nation

34 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled in Jerusalem for 31 years. ² He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He lived the way King David had lived. He didn’t turn away from it to the right or the left.

³ While he was still young, he began to worship the God of King David. It was the eighth year of Josiah’s rule. In his 12th year Josiah began to get rid of the high places in Judah and Jerusalem. He removed the poles used to worship the female god named Asherah. He also removed the statues of other false gods. ⁴ He ordered the altars of the gods that were named Baal to be torn down. Josiah cut to pieces the altars above them that were used for burning incense. He smashed the Asherah poles. He also smashed the statues of other false gods. Josiah broke all of them to pieces. He scattered the pieces over the graves of those who had offered sacrifices to those gods. ⁵ He burned the bones of the priests on their altars. That’s the way he made Judah and Jerusalem pure and “clean.” ⁶ Josiah went to the towns of Manasseh, Ephraim and Simeon. He went all the way to Naphtali. He also went to the destroyed places around all those towns. ⁷ Everywhere Josiah went he tore down the altars and the Asherah poles. He crushed the statues of gods to powder. He cut to pieces all the altars for burning incense. He destroyed all those things everywhere in Israel. Then he went back to Jerusalem.

⁸ In the 18th year of Josiah’s rule, he decided to make the land and temple pure and “clean.” So he sent Shaphan, Maaseiah and Joah to repair the temple of the Lord his God. Shaphan was the son of Azaliah. Maaseiah was ruler of the city. And Joah, the son of Joahaz, kept the records.

⁹ These men went to Hilkiah the high priest. They gave him the money that had been brought into God’s temple. The Levites who guarded the gates had collected it. They had received some of the money from the people of Manasseh and Ephraim. They had also received some from the other people who remained in Israel. The rest of the money came from other people. It came from all the people of Judah and Benjamin and the people living in Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Men were appointed to direct the work on the Lord’s temple. All the money collected was given to them. These men paid the workers who repaired the temple. They made it look like new again. ¹¹ They also gave money to the builders and those who worked with wood. The workers used it to buy lumber and blocks of stone. The lumber was used for the supports and beams for the buildings. The kings of Judah had let the buildings fall down.

¹² The workers were faithful in doing the work. Jahath and Obadiah directed them. They were Levites from the family line of Merari. Zechariah and Meshullam also directed them. They were from the family line of Kohath. The Levites were skilled in playing musical instruments. ¹³ They were in charge of the laborers. They directed all the workers from job to job. Some of the Levites were secretaries and writers. Other Levites guarded the gates.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

¹⁴ The money that had been taken into the Lord’s temple was being brought out. At that time Hilkiah the priest found the Book of the Law of the Lord. It had been given through Moses. ¹⁵ Hilkiah spoke to Shaphan the secretary. Hilkiah said, “I’ve found the Book of the Law in the Lord’s temple.” Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan.

¹⁶ Then Shaphan took the book to King Josiah. He told him, “Your officials are doing everything they’ve been asked to do. ¹⁷ They have paid out the money that was in the Lord’s temple. They’ve put it in the care of the directors and workers.” ¹⁸ Shaphan continued, “Hilkiah the priest has given me a book.” Shaphan read some of it to the king.

¹⁹ The king heard the words of the Law. When he did, he tore his royal robes. ²⁰ He gave orders to Hilkiah, Ahikam, Abdon, Shaphan the secretary and Asaiah. Ahikam was the son of Shaphan. Abdon was the son of Micah. And Asaiah was the king’s attendant. Josiah commanded them, ²¹ “Go. Ask the Lord for advice. Ask him about what is written in this book that has been found. Do it for me. Also do it for the people who remain in Israel and Judah. The Lord has been very angry with us. That’s because our people before us didn’t obey what the Lord had said. They didn’t do everything written in this book.”

²² Hilkiah and the people the king had sent with him went to speak to Huldah the prophet. She was the wife of Shallum. Shallum was the son of Tokhath. Tokhath was the son of Hasrah. Shallum took care of the sacred robes. Huldah lived in the New Quarter of Jerusalem.

²³ Huldah said to them, “The Lord is the God of Israel. He says, ‘Here is what you should tell the man who sent you to me. ²⁴ “The Lord says, ‘I am going to bring horrible trouble on this place and its people. There are curses written down in the book that has been read to the king of Judah. All those curses will take place. ²⁵ That’s because the people have deserted me. They have burned incense to other gods. They have made me very angry because of everything their hands have made. So my anger will burn like a fire against this place. And the fire of my anger will not be put out.’ ” ’ ²⁶ The king of Judah sent you to ask for advice. Tell him, ‘The Lord is the God of Israel. He has a message for you about the things you heard. ²⁷ The Lord says, “Your heart was tender. You made yourself humble in my sight. You heard what I spoke against this place and its people. So you made yourself humble. You tore your royal robes and wept. And I have heard you,” announces the Lord. ²⁸ You will join the members of your family who have already died. You will be buried in peace. You will not see all the trouble I am going to bring. I am going to bring trouble on this place and the people who live here.’ ”

Huldah’s answer was taken back to the king.

²⁹ Then the king called together all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. ³⁰ He went up to the Lord’s temple. The people of Judah and Jerusalem went with him. So did the priests and Levites. All of them went, from the least important of them to the most important. The king had all the words of the Book of the Covenant read to them. The book had been found in the Lord’s temple. ³¹ The king stood next to his pillar. He agreed to the terms of the covenant in front of the Lord. The king promised to serve the Lord and obey his commands, directions and rules. He promised to obey them with all his heart and with all his soul. So the king promised to obey the terms of the covenant that were written in that book.

³² Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and in Benjamin commit themselves to the covenant. The people of Jerusalem did it in keeping with the covenant of the God of Israel.

³³ Josiah removed all the statues of false gods from the whole territory that belonged to the Israelites. The Lord hated those statues. Josiah had everyone in Israel serve the Lord their God. As long as he lived, they didn’t fail to follow the Lord, the God of their people.

The Thousand Years

20 I saw an angel coming down out of heaven. He had the key to the Abyss. In his hand he held a heavy chain. ² He grabbed the dragon, that old serpent. The serpent is also called the devil, or Satan. The angel put him in chains for 1,000 years. ³ Then he threw him into the Abyss. He locked it and sealed him in. This was to keep Satan from causing the nations to believe his lies anymore. Satan will be locked away until the 1,000 years are ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

⁴ I saw thrones. Those who had been given authority to judge were sitting on them. I also saw the souls of those whose heads had been cut off. They had been killed because they had spoken what was true about Jesus. They had also been killed because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its statue. They had not received its mark on their foreheads or hands. They came to life and ruled with Christ for 1,000 years. ⁵ This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the 1,000 years were ended. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them. They will be priests of God and of Christ. They will rule with him for 1,000 years.

Satan Is Judged

⁷ When the 1,000 years are over, Satan will be set free from his prison. ⁸ He will go out to cause the nations to believe lies. He will gather them from the four corners of the earth. He will bring Gog and Magog together for battle. Their troops are as many as the grains of sand on the seashore. ⁹ They marched across the whole earth. They surrounded the place where God’s holy people were camped. It was the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and burned them up. ¹⁰ The devil had caused them to believe lies. He was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur. That is where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will all suffer day and night for ever and ever.

The Dead Are Judged

¹¹ I saw a great white throne. And I saw God sitting on it. When the earth and sky saw his face, they ran away. There was no place for them. ¹² I saw the dead, great and small, standing in front of the throne. Books were opened. Then another book was opened. It was the book of life. The dead were judged by what they had done. The things they had done were written in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it. And Death and Hell gave up their dead. Each person was judged by what they had done. ¹⁴ Then Death and Hell were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

The Lord Warns the Priests

2 “Now I am giving this warning to you priests. ² Listen to it. Honor me with all your heart,” says the Lord who rules over all. “If you do not, I will send a curse on you. I will turn your blessings into curses. In fact, I have already done that because you have not honored me with all your heart.

³ “Because of what you have done, I will punish your children. I will smear the waste from your sacrifices on your faces. And you will be carried off to the dump along with it. ⁴ You will know that I have given you this warning. I have warned you so that my covenant with Levi will continue,” says the Lord who rules over all. ⁵ “My covenant promised Levi life and peace. So I gave them to him. I required him to respect me. And he had great respect for my name. ⁶ True teaching came from his mouth. Nothing but the truth came from his lips. He walked with me in peace. He did what was right. He turned many people away from their sins.

⁷ “The lips of a priest should guard knowledge. After all, he is the messenger of the Lord who rules over all. And people seek instruction from his mouth. ⁸ But you have turned away from the right path. Your teaching has caused many people to trip and fall. You have broken my covenant with Levi,” says the Lord who rules over all. ⁹ “So I have caused all the people to hate you. They have lost respect for you. You have not done what I told you to do. Instead, you have favored one person over another in matters of the law.”

Breaking the Covenant Through Divorce

¹⁰ People of Judah, all of us have one Father. One God created us. So why do we break the covenant the Lord made with our people of long ago? We do this by being unfaithful to one another.

¹¹ And Judah has been unfaithful. A hateful thing has been done in Israel and Jerusalem. The Lord loves his temple. But Judah has made it impure. Their men have married women who worship other gods. ¹² May the Lord punish the man who marries a woman like this. It doesn’t matter who that man is. May the Lord who rules over all remove him from the tents of Jacob’s people. May the Lord remove him even if he brings an offering to him.

¹³ Here’s something else you do. You flood the Lord’s altar with your tears. You weep and cry because your offerings don’t please him anymore. He doesn’t accept them with pleasure from your hands. ¹⁴ You ask, “Why?” It’s because the Lord is holding you responsible. He watches how you treat the wife you married when you were young. You have been unfaithful to her. You did it even though she’s your partner. You promised to stay married to her. And the Lord was a witness to it.

¹⁵ Hasn’t the one God made the two of you one also? Both of you belong to him in body and spirit. And why has the one God made you one? Because he wants his children to be like him. So be careful. Don’t be unfaithful to the wife you married when you were young.

¹⁶ “Suppose a man hates and divorces his wife,” says the Lord God of Israel. “Then he is harming the one he should protect,” says the Lord who rules over all.

So be careful. And don’t be unfaithful.

Breaking the Covenant by Treating Others Unfairly

¹⁷ You have worn out the Lord by what you keep saying.

“How have we worn him out?” you ask.

You have done it by saying, “All those who do evil things are good in the Lord’s sight. And he is pleased with them.” Or you ask, “Is God really fair?”

Jesus Is Sentenced to Be Crucified

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him whipped. ² The soldiers twisted thorns together to make a crown. They put it on Jesus’ head. Then they put a purple robe on him. ³ They went up to him again and again. They kept saying, “We honor you, king of the Jews!” And they slapped him in the face.

⁴ Once more Pilate came out. He said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing Jesus out to you. I want to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.” ⁵ Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Then Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify him! Crucify him!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him. I myself find no basis for a charge against him.”

⁷ The Jewish leaders replied, “We have a law. That law says he must die. He claimed to be the Son of God.”

⁸ When Pilate heard that, he was even more afraid. ⁹ He went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus. But Jesus did not answer him. ¹⁰ “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you understand? I have the power to set you free or to nail you to a cross.”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You were given power from heaven. If you weren’t, you would have no power over me. So the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free. But the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are not Caesar’s friend! Anyone who claims to be a king is against Caesar!”

¹³ When Pilate heard that, he brought Jesus out. Pilate sat down on the judge’s seat. It was at a place called the Stone Walkway. In the Aramaic language it was called Gabbatha. ¹⁴ It was about noon on Preparation Day in Passover Week.

“Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Should I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally, Pilate handed Jesus over to them to be nailed to a cross.

Jesus Is Nailed to a Cross

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷ He had to carry his own cross. He went out to a place called the Skull. In the Aramaic language it was called Golgotha. ¹⁸ There they nailed Jesus to the cross. Two other men were crucified with him. One was on each side of him. Jesus was in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate had a notice prepared. It was fastened to the cross. It read,

Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

²⁰ Many of the Jews read the sign. That’s because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. And the sign was written in the Aramaic, Latin and Greek languages. ²¹ The chief priests of the Jews argued with Pilate. They said, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews.’ Write that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”

²² Pilate answered, “I have written what I have written.”

²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes. They divided them into four parts. Each soldier got one part. All that was left was Jesus’ long, inner robe. It did not have any seams. It was made out of one piece of cloth from top to bottom.

²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s cast lots to see who will get it.”

This happened so that Scripture would come true. It says,

So that is what the soldiers did.

²⁵ Jesus’ mother stood near his cross. So did his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ Jesus saw his mother there. He also saw the disciple he loved standing nearby. Jesus said to his mother, “Dear woman, here is your son.” ²⁷ He said to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, the disciple took her into his home.

Jesus Dies

²⁸ Later, Jesus knew that everything had now been finished. He also knew that what Scripture said must come true. So he said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there. So they soaked a sponge in it. They put the sponge on the stem of a hyssop plant. Then they lifted it up to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ After Jesus drank he said, “It is finished.” Then he bowed his head and died.

³¹ It was Preparation Day. The next day would be a special Sabbath day. The Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses during the Sabbath day. So they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus. Then they broke the legs of the other man. ³³ But when they came to Jesus, they saw that he was already dead. So they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers stuck his spear into Jesus’ side. Right away, blood and water flowed out. ³⁵ The man who saw it has been a witness about it. And what he has said is true. He knows that he tells the truth. He is a witness so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened in order that Scripture would come true. It says, “Not one of his bones will be broken.” (Exodus 12:46; Numbers 9:12; Psalm 34:20) ³⁷ Scripture also says, “They will look to the one they have pierced.” (Zechariah 12:10)

Jesus Is Buried

³⁸ Later Joseph asked Pilate for Jesus’ body. Joseph was from the town of Arimathea. He was a follower of Jesus. But he followed Jesus secretly because he was afraid of the Jewish leaders. After Pilate gave him permission, Joseph came and took the body away. ³⁹ Nicodemus went with Joseph. He was the man who had earlier visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought some mixed spices that weighed about 75 pounds. ⁴⁰ The two men took Jesus’ body. They wrapped it in strips of linen cloth, along with the spices. That was the way the Jews buried people. ⁴¹ At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden. A new tomb was there. No one had ever been put in it before. ⁴² That day was the Jewish Preparation Day, and the tomb was nearby. So they placed Jesus there.