M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

25 In the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign, on the tenth day of the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with all his army against Jerusalem and laid siege to it, and they built siege works against it round about.

² The city was besieged [nearly two years] until the eleventh year of King Zedekiah.

³ On the ninth day of the fourth month the famine was complete in the city; there was no food for the people of the land.

⁴ Then the city was broken through; the king and all the warriors fled by night by way of the gate between the two walls by the king’s garden, though the Chaldeans were round about the city. [The king] went by the way toward the Arabah (the plain).

⁵ The Chaldean army pursued the king and overtook him in the plains of Jericho. All his army was scattered from him.

⁶ So they captured Zedekiah and brought him to the king of Babylon at Riblah, and sentence was passed on him.

⁷ And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes and put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in double fetters [hands and feet] and carried him to Babylon. [Foretold in Jer. 34:3; Ezek. 12:13.]

⁸ On the seventh day of the fifth month of the nineteenth year of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, Nebuzaradan, captain of the Babylonian king’s guard, came to Jerusalem.

⁹ He burned the house of the Lord, the king’s house, and all the houses of Jerusalem; every great house he burned down.

¹⁰ All the army of the Chaldeans who were with the captain of the [Babylonian] guard broke down the walls around Jerusalem.

¹¹ Now the rest of the people left in the city and the deserters who fell away to the king of Babylon, along with the rest of the multitude, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried into exile.

¹² But the captain of the guard left some of the poorest of the land to be vinedressers and soil tillers.

¹³ The bronze pillars in the Lord’s house and [its] bases and the bronze Sea the Chaldeans smashed and carried the bronze to Babylon.

¹⁴ And they took away the pots, shovels, snuffers, dishes for incense, all the bronze vessels used in the temple service,

¹⁵ The firepans, and bowls. Such things as were of gold the captain of the guard took away as gold, and what was of silver [he took away] as silver.

¹⁶ The two pillars, the one Sea, and the bases, which Solomon had made for the house of the Lord, the bronze of all these articles was incalculable.

¹⁷ The height of the one pillar was eighteen cubits, and upon it was a capital of bronze. The height of the capital was three cubits; a network and pomegranates round about the capital were all of bronze. And the second pillar had the same as these, with a network.

¹⁸ The captain of the guard took Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the second priest, and the three keepers of the threshold.

¹⁹ And out of the city he took an officer who was in command of the men of war and five men of the king’s personal advisors, who were found in the city, and the scribe of the captain of the army who mustered the people of the land and sixty men of the people who were found in the city.

²⁰ Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard took these and brought them to the king of Babylon at Riblah.

²¹ The king of Babylon smote and killed them at Riblah in the land of Hamath [north of Damascus]. So Judah was taken into exile.

²² Over the people whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had left in the land of Judah he appointed as governor Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan.

²³ And when all the captains of the forces and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah governor, they came with their men to Gedaliah at Mizpah, namely, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan son of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite.

²⁴ And Gedaliah swore to them and their men, saying, Do not be afraid of the Chaldean officials. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.

²⁵ But in the seventh month Ishmael son of Nethaniah, the son of Elishama, of the royal family [so having a claim to be governor], came with ten men and smote and killed Gedaliah and the Jews and the Chaldeans who were with him at Mizpah.

²⁶ Then all the people, both small and great, and the captains of the forces arose and went to Egypt, for they were afraid of the Chaldeans.

²⁷ And in the thirty-seventh year of the captivity of Jehoiachin king of Judah, on the twenty-seventh day of the twelfth month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, showed favor to Jehoiachin king of Judah and released him from prison;

²⁸ He spoke kindly to him and ranked him above the kings with him in Babylon.

²⁹ Jehoiachin put off his prison garments, and he dined regularly at the king’s table the remainder of his life.

³⁰ And his allowance, a continual one, was given him by the king, every day a portion, for the rest of his life.

7 For this Melchizedek, king of Salem [and] priest of the Most High God, met Abraham as he returned from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him,

² And Abraham gave to him a tenth portion of all [the spoil]. He is primarily, as his name when translated indicates, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, which means king of peace.

³ Without [record of] father or mother or ancestral line, neither with beginning of days nor ending of life, but, resembling the Son of God, he continues to be a priest without interruption and without successor.

⁴ Now observe and consider how great [a personage] this was to whom even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth [the topmost or the pick of the heap] of the spoils.

⁵ And it is true that those descendants of Levi who are charged with the priestly office are commanded in the Law to take tithes from the people—which means, from their brethren—though these have descended from Abraham.

⁶ But this person who has not their Levitical ancestry received tithes from Abraham [himself] and blessed him who possessed the promises [of God].

⁷ Yet it is beyond all contradiction that it is the lesser person who is blessed by the greater one.

⁸ Furthermore, here [in the Levitical priesthood] tithes are received by men who are subject to death; while there [in the case of Melchizedek], they are received by one of whom it is testified that he lives [perpetually].

⁹ A person might even say that Levi [the father of the priestly tribe] himself, who received tithes (the tenth), paid tithes through Abraham,

¹⁰ For he was still in the loins of his forefather [Abraham] when Melchizedek met him [Abraham].

¹¹ Now if perfection (a perfect fellowship between God and the worshiper) had been attainable by the Levitical priesthood—for under it the people were given the Law—why was it further necessary that there should arise another and different kind of Priest, one after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one appointed after the order and rank of Aaron?

¹² For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is of necessity an alteration of the law [concerning the priesthood] as well.

¹³ For the One of Whom these things are said belonged [not to the priestly line but] to another tribe, no member of which has officiated at the altar.

¹⁴ For it is obvious that our Lord sprang from the tribe of Judah, and Moses mentioned nothing about priests in connection with that tribe.

¹⁵ And this becomes more plainly evident when another Priest arises Who bears the likeness of Melchizedek,^(A)

¹⁶ Who has been constituted a Priest, not on the basis of a bodily legal requirement [an externally imposed command concerning His physical ancestry], but on the basis of the power of an endless and indestructible Life.

¹⁷ For it is witnessed of Him, You are a Priest forever after the order (with the rank) of Melchizedek.^(B)

¹⁸ So a previous physical regulation and command is cancelled because of its weakness and ineffectiveness and uselessness—

¹⁹ For the Law never made anything perfect—but instead a better hope is introduced through which we [now] come close to God.

²⁰ And it was not without the taking of an oath [that Christ was made Priest],

²¹ For those who formerly became priests received their office without its being confirmed by the taking of an oath by God, but this One was designated and addressed and saluted with an oath, The Lord has sworn and will not regret it or change His mind, You are a Priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.^(C)

²² In keeping with [the oath’s greater strength and force], Jesus has become the Guarantee of a better (stronger) agreement [a more excellent and more advantageous covenant].

²³ [Again, the former successive line of priests] was made up of many, because they were each prevented by death from continuing [perpetually in office];

²⁴ But He holds His priesthood unchangeably, because He lives on forever.

²⁵ Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost (completely, perfectly, finally, and for all time and eternity) those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them.

²⁶ [Here is] the High Priest [perfectly adapted] to our needs, as was fitting—holy, blameless, unstained by sin, separated from sinners, and exalted higher than the heavens.

²⁷ He has no day by day necessity, as [do each of these other] high priests, to offer sacrifice first of all for his own [personal] sins and then for those of the people, because He [met all the requirements] once for all when He brought Himself [as a sacrifice] which He offered up.

²⁸ For the Law sets up men in their weakness [frail, sinful, dying human beings] as high priests, but the word of [God’s] oath, which [was spoken later] after the institution of the Law, [chooses and appoints as priest One Whose appointment is complete and permanent], a Son Who has been made perfect forever.^(D)

1 The words of Amos, who was among the herdsmen and sheep masters of Tekoa, which he saw [in divine revelation] concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.^(A)

² And he said, The Lord roars out of Zion and utters His voice from Jerusalem; then the pastures of the shepherds mourn and the top of [Mount] Carmel dries up.^(B)

³ Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Damascus [the capital of Syria] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with iron sledges.^(C)

⁴ So I will send a fire [of war, conquest, and destruction] upon the house of Hazael [who killed and succeeded King Ben-hadad] which shall devour the palaces and strongholds of Ben-hadad.

⁵ I will break also the bar [of the gate] of Damascus and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven or On, and him who holds the scepter from Beth-eden; and the people of Syria [conquered by the Assyrians] shall go into exile to Kir, says the Lord.^(D)

⁶ Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Gaza [a city in Philistia] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because [as slave traders] they carried away captive the whole [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared, none left behind] and delivered them up to Edom [for the slave trade].^(E)

⁷ So I will send a fire on the wall of Gaza which shall devour its strongholds.

⁸ And I will cut off the inhabitants from Ashdod and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon, and I will turn My hand against Ekron; and the rest of the Philistines [in Gath and the towns dependent on these four Philistine cities] shall perish, says the Lord God.^(F)

⁹ Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Tyre and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because they [as middlemen] delivered up a whole [Jewish] population to Edom and did not [seriously] remember their brotherly covenant.^(G)

¹⁰ So I will send a fire on the wall of Tyre which shall devour its strongholds.

¹¹ Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of Edom [descendants of Esau] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword, corrupting his compassions and casting off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually and his wrath he kept and heeded forever.

¹² So I will send a fire upon Teman which shall devour the strongholds of Bozrah [in Edom].

¹³ Thus says the Lord: For three transgressions of the children of Ammon [descendants of Lot] and for four [for multiplied delinquencies], I will not reverse the punishment of it or revoke My word concerning it, because [the Ammonites] have ripped up women with child in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

¹⁴ So I will kindle a fire in the wall of Rabbah [in Ammon] and it shall devour the strongholds of it, with shouting in the day of battle, with a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;

¹⁵ And their king shall go into exile, he and his princes together, says the Lord.

Psalm 144

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Blessed be the Lord, my Rock and my keen and firm Strength, Who teaches my hands to war and my fingers to fight—

² My Steadfast Love and my Fortress, my High Tower and my Deliverer, my Shield and He in Whom I trust and take refuge, Who subdues my people under me.

³ Lord, what is man that You take notice of him? Or [the] son of man that You take account of him?^(A)

⁴ Man is like vanity and a breath; his days are as a shadow that passes away.

⁵ Bow Your heavens, O Lord, and come down; touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

⁶ Cast forth lightning and scatter [my enemies]; send out Your arrows and embarrass and frustrate them.

⁷ Stretch forth Your hand from above; rescue me and deliver me out of great waters, from the hands of hostile aliens (tribes around us)

⁸ Whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.

⁹ I will sing a new song to You, O God; upon a harp, an instrument of ten strings, will I offer praises to You.

¹⁰ You are He Who gives salvation to kings, Who rescues David His servant from the hurtful sword [of evil].

¹¹ Rescue me and deliver me out of the power of [hostile] alien [tribes] whose mouths speak deceit and whose right hands are right hands [raised in taking] fraudulent oaths.

¹² When our sons shall be as plants grown large in their youth and our daughters as sculptured corner pillars hewn like those of a palace;

¹³ When our garners are full, affording all manner of store, and our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our pastures;

¹⁴ When our oxen are well loaded; when there is no invasion [of hostile armies] and no going forth [against besiegers—when there is no murder or manslaughter] and no outcry in our streets;

¹⁵ Happy and blessed are the people who are in such a case; yes, happy (blessed, fortunate, prosperous, to be envied) are the people whose God is the Lord!