M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Remember What the Lord Has Done

8 Make sure you obey every command I’m giving you today. Then you will live, and there will be many of you. You will enter the land and take it as your own. It’s the land the Lord promised to your people of long ago. ² Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way. He guided you in the desert for these 40 years. He wanted to take your pride away. He wanted to test you to know what was in your hearts. He wanted to see whether you would obey his commands. ³ He took your pride away. He let you go hungry. Then he gave you manna to eat. You and your parents had never even known anything about manna before. He tested you to teach you that man doesn’t live only on bread. He also lives on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ Your clothes didn’t wear out during these 40 years. Your feet didn’t swell. ⁵ Here is what I want you to know in your hearts. The Lord your God guides you, just as parents guide their children.

⁶ Obey the commands of the Lord your God. Live as he wants you to live. Have respect for him. ⁷ The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land. It has brooks, streams and deep springs of water. Those springs flow in its valleys and hills. ⁸ It has wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey. ⁹ There is plenty of food in that land. You will have everything you need. Its rocks have iron in them. And you can dig copper out of its hills.

¹⁰ When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God. Praise him for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ Make sure you don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t fail to obey his commands, laws and rules. I’m giving them to you today. ¹² But suppose you don’t obey his commands. And suppose you have plenty to eat. You build fine houses and live in them. ¹³ The number of your herds and flocks increases. You also get more and more silver and gold. And everything you have multiplies. ¹⁴ Then your hearts will become proud. And you will forget the Lord your God. The Lord brought you out of Egypt. That’s the land where you were slaves. ¹⁵ He led you through that huge and terrible desert. It was a dry land. It didn’t have any water. It had poisonous snakes and scorpions. The Lord gave you water out of solid rock. ¹⁶ He gave you manna to eat in the desert. Your people had never even known anything about manna before. The Lord took your pride away. He tested you. He did it so that things would go well with you in the end. ¹⁷ You might say to yourself, “My power and my strong hands have made me rich.” ¹⁸ But remember the Lord your God. He gives you the ability to produce wealth. That shows he stands by the terms of the covenant he made with you. He promised it to your people of long ago. And he’s still faithful to his covenant today.

¹⁹ Don’t forget the Lord your God. Don’t serve other gods. Don’t worship them and bow down to them. I am a witness against you today that if you do, you will certainly be destroyed. ²⁰ You will be destroyed just like the nations the Lord your God is destroying to make room for you. That’s what will happen if you don’t obey him.

Sennacherib Warns Jerusalem

36 Sennacherib attacked and captured all the cities of Judah that had high walls around them. It was in the 14th year of the rule of Hezekiah. Sennacherib was king of Assyria. ² He sent his field commander from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. He sent him along with a large army. The commander stopped at the channel that brings water from the Upper Pool. It was on the road to the Washerman’s Field. ³ Eliakim, Shebna and Joah went out to him. Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, was in charge of the palace. Shebna was the secretary. Joah, the son of Asaph, kept the records.

⁴ The field commander said to them, “Give Hezekiah this message. Tell him,

“ ‘Sennacherib is the great king of Assyria. He says, “Why are you putting your faith in what your king says? ⁵ You say you have a military plan. You say you have a strong army. But your words don’t mean anything. Who are you depending on? Why don’t you want to stay under my control? ⁶ Look, I know you are depending on Egypt. Why are you doing that? Egypt is nothing but a broken papyrus stem. Try leaning on it. It will only cut your hand. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, is just like that to everyone who depends on him. ⁷ But suppose you say to me, ‘We are depending on the Lord our God.’ Didn’t Hezekiah remove your god’s high places and altars? Didn’t Hezekiah say to the people of Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship at the altar in Jerusalem’?

⁸ “ ‘ “Come on. Make a deal with my master, the king of Assyria. I’ll give you 2,000 horses. But only if you can put riders on them! ⁹ You are depending on Egypt for chariots and horsemen. You can’t drive away even the least important officer among my master’s officials. ¹⁰ Besides, do you think I’ve come without being sent by the Lord? Have I come to attack and destroy this land without receiving a message from him? The Lord himself told me to march out against your country. He told me to destroy it.” ’ ”

¹¹ Then Eliakim, Shebna and Joah spoke to the field commander. They said, “Please speak to us in the Aramaic language. We understand it. Don’t speak to us in Hebrew. If you do, the people on the wall will be able to understand you.”

¹² But the commander replied, “My master sent me to say these things. Are these words only for your master and you to hear? Aren’t they also for the people sitting on the wall? They are going to suffer just like you. They’ll have to eat their own waste. They’ll have to drink their own urine.”

¹³ Then the commander stood up and spoke in the Hebrew language. He called out, “Pay attention to what the great king of Assyria is telling you. ¹⁴ He says, ‘Don’t let Hezekiah trick you. He can’t save you! ¹⁵ Don’t let Hezekiah talk you into trusting in the Lord. Don’t believe him when he says, “You can be sure that the Lord will save us. This city will not be handed over to the king of Assyria.” ’

¹⁶ “Don’t listen to Hezekiah. The king of Assyria says, ‘Make a peace treaty with me. Come over to my side. Then each one of you will eat fruit from your own vine and fig tree. Each one of you will drink water from your own well. ¹⁷ You will do that until I come back. Then I’ll take you to a land just like yours. It’s a land that has a lot of grain and fresh wine. It has plenty of bread and vineyards.

¹⁸ “ ‘Don’t let Hezekiah fool you. He’s telling you a lie when he says, “The Lord will save us.” Have the gods of any nations ever saved their lands from the power of the king of Assyria? ¹⁹ Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? Where are the gods of Sepharvaim? Have they saved Samaria from my power? ²⁰ Which one of all the gods of those countries has been able to save their lands from me? So how can the Lord save Jerusalem from my power?’ ”

²¹ But the people remained silent. They didn’t say anything. That’s because King Hezekiah had commanded, “Don’t answer him.”

²² Then Eliakim, the son of Hilkiah, went to Hezekiah. Eliakim was in charge of the palace. Shebna the secretary went with him. So did Joah, the son of Asaph. Joah kept the records. All of them went to Hezekiah with their clothes torn. They told him what the field commander had said.

The Seals of the Scroll Are Broken

6 I watched as the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice that sounded like thunder, “Come!” ² I looked, and there in front of me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow in his hands. He was given a crown. He rode out like a hero on his way to victory.

³ The Lamb broke open the second seal. Then I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” ⁴ Another horse came out. It was red like fire. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth. He was given power to make people kill each other. He was given a large sword.

⁵ The Lamb broke open the third seal. Then I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” I looked, and there in front of me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. ⁶ Next, I heard what sounded like a voice coming from among the four living creatures. It said, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s pay. And six pounds of barley for a day’s pay. And leave the olive oil and the wine alone!”

⁷ The Lamb broke open the fourth seal. Then I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” ⁸ I looked, and there in front of me was a pale horse! Its rider’s name was Death. Following close behind him was Hell. They were given power over a fourth of the earth. They were given power to kill people by swords. They could also use hunger, sickness and the earth’s wild animals to kill.

⁹ The Lamb broke open the fifth seal. I saw souls under the altar. They were the souls of people who had been killed. They had been killed because of God’s word and their faithful witness. ¹⁰ They called out in a loud voice. “How long, Lord and King, holy and true?” they asked. “How long will you wait to judge those who live on the earth? How long will it be until you pay them back for killing us?” ¹¹ Then each of them was given a white robe. “Wait a little longer,” they were told. “There are still more of your believing brothers and sisters who will be killed. They will be killed just as you were.”

¹² I watched as the Lamb broke open the sixth seal. There was a powerful earthquake. The sun turned black like the clothes people wear when they’re sad. Those clothes are made out of goat’s hair. The whole moon turned as red as blood. ¹³ The stars in the sky fell to earth. They dropped like figs from a tree shaken by a strong wind. ¹⁴ The sky rolled back like a scroll. Every mountain and island was moved out of its place.

¹⁵ Everyone hid in caves and among the rocks of the mountains. This included the kings of the earth, the princes and the generals. It included rich people and powerful people. It also included everyone else, both slaves and people who were free. ¹⁶ They called out to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us! Hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne! Hide us from the anger of the Lamb! ¹⁷ The great day of their anger has come. Who can live through it?”