M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

3 These sons of David were born to him in Hebron: the firstborn was Amnon, of Ahinoam the Jezreelitess; second, Daniel (Chileab), of Abigail the Carmelitess;

² Third, Absalom the son of Maacah daughter of Talmai king of Geshur; fourth, Adonijah, of Haggith;

³ Fifth, Shephatiah, of Abital; sixth, Ithream, of his wife Eglah.

⁴ These six were born to David in Hebron; there he reigned seven years and six months, and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years.

⁵ These were born to [David] in Jerusalem: Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon—four of Bathshua (Bathsheba) daughter of Ammiel (Eliam);

⁶ Then Ibhar, Elishama, Eliphelet,

⁷ Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia,

⁸ Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet—nine in all.

⁹ These were all the sons of David, besides the sons of the concubines. And Tamar was their sister.

¹⁰ Solomon’s descendants [omitting nonreigning offspring] were: his son Rehoboam. Abijah was his son, Asa his son, Jehoshaphat his son,

¹¹ Jehoram (Joram) his son, Ahaziah his son, Joash his son,

¹² Amaziah his son, Azariah his son, Jotham his son,

¹³ Ahaz his son, Hezekiah his son, Manasseh his son,

¹⁴ Amon his son, Josiah his son.

¹⁵ The descendants of Josiah: firstborn, Johanan; second, Jehoiakim; third, Zedekiah; fourth, Shallum.

¹⁶ The descendants of Jehoiakim: Jehoiachin (Jeconiah) his son, Zedekiah his son.

¹⁷ The descendants of Jehoiachin the captive: Shealtiel his son,

¹⁸ Malchiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.

¹⁹ The sons of Pedaiah: Zerubbabel and Shimei. The sons of Zerubbabel: Meshullam, Hananiah. And Shelomith was their sister;

²⁰ And Hashubah, Ohel, Berechiah, Hasadiah, [and] Jushab-hesed—five [the sons of Meshullam?].

²¹ The sons of Hananiah: Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, whose son was Rephaiah, his son Arnan, his son Obadiah, his son Shecaniah.

²² The son of Shecaniah: Shemaiah. The sons of Shemaiah: Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat—six in all.

²³ The sons of Neariah: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam—three in all.

²⁴ The sons of Elioenai: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani—seven in all.

4 The sons of Judah: Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

² Reaiah son of Shobal was the father of Jahath, and Jahath of Ahumai and Lahad. These were the families of the Zorathites.

³ These were the sons of [Hur] the father of Etam: Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. And their sister was Hazzelelponi.

⁴ And Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer the father of Hushah. These were the sons of Hur, the eldest of Ephrathah (Ephrath), the father of Bethlehem.

⁵ Ashur the father of Tekoa had two wives, Helah and Naarah.

⁶ Naarah bore him Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were Naarah’s sons.

⁷ The sons of Helah: Zereth, Izhar, and Ethnan.

⁸ Koz was the father of Anub, Zobebah, and the families of Aharhel son of Harum.

⁹ Jabez was honorable above his brothers; but his mother named him Jabez [sorrow maker], saying, Because I bore him in pain.

¹⁰ Jabez cried to the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that You would bless me and enlarge my border, and that Your hand might be with me, and You would keep me from evil so it might not hurt me! And God granted his request.

¹¹ Chelub the brother of Shuhah was the father of Mehir, the father of Eshton.

¹² Eshton was the father of Beth-rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah the father of Ir-nahash. These are the men of Recah.

¹³ The sons of Kenaz: Othniel and Seraiah. The sons of Othniel: Hathath [and Meonothai].

¹⁴ Meonothai was father of Ophrah, and Seraiah of Joab the father of Ge-harashim [the Valley of Craftsmen], so named because they were craftsmen.

¹⁵ The sons of Caleb [Joshua’s companion] son of Jephunneh: Iru, Elah, and Naam. The son of Elah: Kenaz.

¹⁶ The sons of Jehallelel: Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

¹⁷ The sons of Ezrah: Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. ^[a]These are the sons of Bithiah daughter of Pharaoh, whom Mered married: she bore Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah the father of Eshtemoa.

¹⁸ And Mered’s Jewish wife bore Jered the father of Gedor, Heber the father of Soco, and Jekuthiel the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹ The sons of the wife of Hodiah, the sister of Naham, were: the father of Keilah the Garmite, and Eshtemoa the Maacathite.

²⁰ The sons of Shimon: Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-hanan, and Tilon. The sons of Ishi: Zoheth and Ben-zoheth.

²¹ The sons of Shelah son of Judah: Er the father of Lecah, and Laadah the father of Mareshah, and the families of the house of the linen workers at Beth-ashbea,

²² And Jokim, the men of Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph, who ruled in Moab, and returned to [Bethlehem]. These are ancient matters.

²³ These were the potters and those who dwelt among plantations and hedges at Netaim and Gederah; there they dwelt with the king for his work.

²⁴ The sons of Simeon: Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul;

²⁵ Shallum was his [Shaul’s] son, Mibsam his son, Mishma his son.

²⁶ The sons of Mishma: Hammuel his son, Zaccur his son, Shimei his son.

²⁷ Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children; neither did all their family multiply like the children of Judah.

²⁸ They dwelt at Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar-shual,

²⁹ Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad,

³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag,

³¹ Beth-marcaboth, Hazar-susim, Beth-biri, and at Shaaraim. These were their towns [and villages] until the reign of David.

³² There were also Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Tochen, and Ashan—five towns—

³³ And all their villages that were round about these towns, as far as Baal[-ath-beer]. These were their settlements, and they had their genealogical record.

³⁴ Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah,

³⁵ Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah, the son of Seraiah, the son of Asiel,

³⁶ Also Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah,

³⁷ Ziza son of Shiphi, the son of Allon, the son of Jedaiah, the son of Shimri, the son of Shemaiah.

³⁸ These mentioned by name were princes in their families; and their fathers’ houses increased greatly [so they needed more room].

³⁹ And they journeyed to the entrance of Gedor to the east side of the valley to seek pasture for their flocks.

⁴⁰ And they found rich, good pasture, and the [cleared] land was wide, quiet, and peaceful, because people of Ham had dwelt there of old [and had left it a better place for those who came after them].

⁴¹ And these registered by name came in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah and destroyed their tents and the Meunim [foreigners] who were found there and exterminated them to this day, and they settled in their stead, because there was pasture for their flocks.

⁴² And some of them from the sons of Simeon, 500 men, went to Mount Seir, having for their leaders Pelatiah, and Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, the sons of Ishi.

⁴³ They destroyed the remnant of the Amalekites who had escaped, and they have dwelt there to this day.

9 Now even the first covenant had its own rules and regulations for divine worship, and it had a sanctuary [but one] of this world.^(A)

² For a tabernacle (tent) was erected, in the outer division or compartment of which were the lampstand and the table with [its loaves of] the showbread set forth. [This portion] is called the Holy Place.^(B)

³ But [inside] beyond the second curtain or veil, [there stood another] tabernacle [division] known as the Holy of Holies.^(C)

⁴ It had the golden ^[a]altar of incense and the ark (chest) of the covenant, covered over with wrought gold. This [ark] contained a golden jar which held the manna and the rod of Aaron that sprouted and the [two stone] slabs of the covenant [bearing the Ten Commandments].^(D)

⁵ Above [the ark] and overshadowing the mercy seat were the representations of the cherubim [winged creatures which were the symbols] of glory. We cannot now go into detail about these things.

⁶ These arrangements having thus been made, the priests enter [habitually] into the outer division of the tabernacle in performance of their ritual acts of worship.

⁷ But into the second [division of the tabernacle] none but the high priest goes, and he only once a year, and never without taking a sacrifice of blood with him, which he offers for himself and for the errors and sins of ignorance and thoughtlessness which the people have committed.^(E)

⁸ By this the Holy Spirit points out that the way into the [true Holy of] Holies is not yet thrown open as long as the former [the outer portion of the] tabernacle remains a recognized institution and is still standing,

⁹ Seeing that that first [outer portion of the] tabernacle was a parable (a visible symbol or type or picture of the present age). In it gifts and sacrifices are offered, and yet are incapable of perfecting the conscience or of cleansing and renewing the inner man of the worshiper.

¹⁰ For [the ceremonies] deal only with clean and unclean meats and drinks and different washings, [mere] external rules and regulations for the body imposed to tide the worshipers over until the time of setting things straight [of reformation, of the complete new order when Christ, the Messiah, shall establish the reality of what these things foreshadow—a better covenant].

¹¹ But [that appointed time came] when Christ (the Messiah) appeared as a High Priest of the better things that have come and are to come. [Then] through the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with [human] hands, that is, not a part of this material creation,

¹² He went once for all into the [Holy of] Holies [of heaven], not by virtue of the blood of goats and calves [by which to make reconciliation between God and man], but His own blood, having found and secured a complete redemption (an everlasting release for us).

¹³ For if [the mere] sprinkling of unholy and defiled persons with blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a burnt heifer is sufficient for the purification of the body,^(F)

¹⁴ How much more surely shall the blood of Christ, Who ^[b]by virtue of [His] eternal Spirit [His own preexistent ^[c]divine personality] has offered Himself as an unblemished sacrifice to God, purify our consciences from dead works and lifeless observances to serve the [ever] living God?

¹⁵ [Christ, the Messiah] is therefore the Negotiator and Mediator of an [entirely] new agreement (testament, covenant), so that those who are called and offered it may receive the fulfillment of the promised everlasting inheritance—since a death has taken place which rescues and delivers and redeems them from the transgressions committed under the [old] first agreement.

¹⁶ For where there is a [last] will and testament involved, the death of the one who made it must be established,

¹⁷ For a will and testament is valid and takes effect only at death, since it has no force or legal power as long as the one who made it is alive.

¹⁸ So even the [old] first covenant (God’s will) was not inaugurated and ratified and put in force without the shedding of blood.

¹⁹ For when every command of the Law had been read out by Moses to all the people, he took the blood of slain calves and goats, together with water and scarlet wool and with a bunch of hyssop, and sprinkled both the Book (the roll of the Law and covenant) itself and all the people,

²⁰ Saying these words: This is the blood that seals and ratifies the agreement (the testament, the covenant) which God commanded [me to deliver to] you.^(G)

²¹ And in the same way he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and all the [sacred] vessels and appliances used in [divine] worship.

²² [In fact] under the Law almost everything is purified by means of blood, and without the shedding of blood there is neither release from sin and its guilt nor the remission of the due and merited punishment for sins.

²³ By such means, therefore, it was necessary for the [earthly] copies of the heavenly things to be purified, but the actual heavenly things themselves [required far] better and nobler sacrifices than these.

²⁴ For Christ (the Messiah) has not entered into a sanctuary made with [human] hands, only a copy and pattern and type of the true one, but [He has entered] into heaven itself, now to appear in the [very] presence of God on our behalf.

²⁵ Nor did He [enter into the heavenly sanctuary to] offer Himself regularly again and again, as the high priest enters the [Holy of] Holies every year with blood not his own.

²⁶ For then would He often have had to suffer [over and over again] since the foundation of the world. But as it now is, He has once for all at the consummation and close of the ages appeared to put away and abolish sin by His sacrifice [of Himself].

²⁷ And just as it is appointed for [all] men once to die, and after that the [certain] judgment,

²⁸ Even so it is that Christ, having been offered to take upon Himself and bear as a burden the sins of many once and ^[d]once for all, will appear a second time, not to carry any burden of sin nor to deal with sin, but to bring to full salvation those who are [eagerly, constantly, and patiently] waiting for and expecting Him.

3 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt:

² You only have I known (chosen, sympathized with, and loved) of all the families of the earth; therefore I will visit upon you all your wickedness and punish you for all your iniquities.

³ Do two walk together except they make an appointment and have agreed?

⁴ Will a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Will a young lion cry out of his den if he has taken nothing?

⁵ Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth where there is no trap for him? Does a trap spring up from the ground when nothing at all has sprung it?

⁶ Shall a trumpet be blown in the city and the people not be alarmed and afraid? Shall misfortune or evil occur [as punishment] and the Lord has not caused it?

⁷ Surely the Lord God will do nothing ^[a]without revealing His secret to His servants the prophets.^(A)

⁸ The lion has roared; who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken; who can but prophesy?^(B)

⁹ Publish to the strongholds in Ashdod [Philistia] and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold what great tumults (confusion and disorder) are in her and what oppressions are in the midst of her.

¹⁰ For they know not how to do right, says the Lord, they who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.

¹¹ Therefore thus says the Lord God: An adversary shall surround the land, and he shall bring down your defenses from you and your strongholds shall be plundered.

¹² Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear [of a sheep], so shall the children of Israel who dwell in Samaria be rescued with the corner of a couch and [part of] the damask covering of a bed.

¹³ Hear and bear witness in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of hosts,

¹⁴ That in the day when I visit Israel’s transgressions upon him I will also visit [with punishment] the altars of Bethel [with its golden calf], and the horns of the altar shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

¹⁵ And I will smite the winter house with the summer house, and the houses of ivory shall perish and the many and great houses shall come to an end, says the Lord.

Psalm 146

¹ Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!) Praise the Lord, O my soul!

² While I live will I praise the Lord; I will sing praises to my God while I have any being.

³ Put not your trust in princes, in a son of man, in whom there is no help.

⁴ When his breath leaves him, he returns to his earth; in that very day his [previous] thoughts, plans, and purposes perish.^(A)

⁵ Happy (blessed, fortunate, enviable) is he who has the God of [special revelation to] Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,^(B)

⁶ Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, Who keeps truth and is faithful forever,

⁷ Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets free the prisoners,

⁸ The Lord opens the eyes of the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the [uncompromisingly] righteous (those upright in heart and in right standing with Him).^(C)

⁹ The Lord protects and preserves the strangers and temporary residents, He upholds the fatherless and the widow and sets them upright, but the way of the wicked He makes crooked (turns upside down and brings to ruin).

¹⁰ The Lord shall reign forever, even Your God, O Zion, from generation to generation. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(D)

Psalm 147

¹ Praise the Lord! For it is good to sing praises to our God, for He is gracious and lovely; praise is becoming and appropriate.

² The Lord is building up Jerusalem; He is gathering together the exiles of Israel.

³ He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds [curing their pains and their sorrows].^(E)

⁴ He determines and counts the number of the stars; He calls them all by their names.

⁵ Great is our Lord and of great power; His understanding is inexhaustible and boundless.

⁶ The Lord lifts up the humble and downtrodden; He casts the wicked down to the ground.

⁷ Sing to the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praises with the harp or the lyre to our God!—

⁸ Who covers the heavens with clouds, Who prepares rain for the earth, Who makes grass to grow on the mountains.

⁹ He gives to the beast his food, and to the young ravens that for which they cry.

¹⁰ He delights not in the strength of the horse, nor does He take pleasure in the legs of a man.

¹¹ The Lord takes pleasure in those who reverently and worshipfully fear Him, in those who hope in His mercy and loving-kindness.^(F)

¹² Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem! Praise your God, O Zion!

¹³ For He has strengthened and made hard the bars of your gates, and He has blessed your children within you.

¹⁴ He makes peace in your borders; He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

¹⁵ He sends forth His commandment to the earth; His word runs very swiftly.

¹⁶ He gives [to the earth] snow like [a blanket of] wool; He scatters the hoarfrost like ashes.

¹⁷ He casts forth His ice like crumbs; who can stand before His cold?

¹⁸ He sends out His word, and melts [ice and snow]; He causes His wind to blow, and the waters flow.

¹⁹ He declares His word to Jacob, His statutes and His ordinances to Israel.^(G)

²⁰ He has not dealt so with any [other] nation; they have not known (understood, appreciated, given heed to, and cherished) His ordinances. Praise the Lord! (Hallelujah!)^(H)