M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Josiah Rules Judah

22 Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jedidah the daughter of Adaiah of Bozkath. ² Josiah did what is right in the eyes of the Lord. He walked in all the way of his father David. He did not turn aside to the right or to the left.

Hilkiah Finds the Book of the Law

³ In the eighteenth year of King Josiah, the king sent Shaphan the writer, the son of Azaliah, son of Meshullam, to the house of the Lord. He said, ⁴ “Go up to Hilkiah the head religious leader, that he may add up the money brought into the Lord’s house which the door-keepers have gathered from the people. ⁵ Let the money be given to the workmen who are watching over the work on the Lord’s house. And let them give it to the workmen who are doing the work on the Lord’s house. ⁶ Have them pay the builders and the men who work with wood and with stone. Have them use it for buying wood and cut stone needed to work on the house. ⁷ But do not make them tell you how the money was spent that was given to them. For they are honest men.”

⁸ Then Hilkiah the head religious leader said to Shaphan the writer, “I have found the Book of the Law in the house of the Lord.” And Hilkiah gave the book to Shaphan, and he read it. ⁹ Then Shaphan the writer came to the king and told him, “Your servants have taken all the money found in the house. And they have given it to the workmen who are watching over the work on the Lord’s house.” ¹⁰ Then Shaphan the writer told the king, “Hilkiah the religious leader has given me a book.” And Shaphan read it in front of the king. ¹¹ When the king heard the words of the Book of the Law, he tore his clothes. ¹² Then he told Hilkiah the religious leader, Ahikam the son of Shaphan, Achbor the son of Micaiah, Shaphan the writer, and Asaiah the king’s servant, ¹³ “Go, ask the Lord for me and all Judah about the words of this book that has been found. For the Lord is very angry with us, because our fathers have not listened to the words of this book. They have not done all that is written for us to do.”

¹⁴ So Hilkiah the religious leader, Ahikam, Achbor, Shaphan and Asaiah went to Huldah the woman who spoke for God. She was the wife of Shallum the son of Tikvah, son of Harhas, and watched over the clothes of the house. (She lived in the Second Part of Jerusalem.) They spoke to her. ¹⁵ She said to them, “This is what the Lord God of Israel says. Tell the man who sent you to me ¹⁶ that the Lord says, ‘See, I will bring trouble upon this place and upon its people. All the words of the book which the king of Judah has read will come true ¹⁷ because they have turned away from Me and have burned special perfume to other gods. They have made Me angry with all the work of their hands. So My anger burns against this place, and it will not be stopped.’ ¹⁸ But tell the king of Judah who sent you to ask of the Lord, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says about the words you have heard. ¹⁹ “You heard how I spoke against this place and against its people. I said that they should be destroyed and laid waste. They should be hated and destroyed. But when you heard this, you were sorry in your heart. You put away your pride before the Lord. You have torn your clothes and cried before Me, and I have heard you,” says the Lord. ²⁰ “So I will gather you to your fathers, and you will be gathered to your grave in peace. Your eyes will not see all the trouble which I will bring upon this place.”’” So they returned to the king and told him what was said.

The Christian’s Rest

4 The same promise of going into God’s rest is still for us. But we should be afraid that some of us may not be able to go in. ² We have heard the Good News even as they did, but it did them no good because it was not mixed with faith. ³ We who have put our trust in God go into His rest. God said this of our early fathers, “I was angry and said, ‘They will not go into My rest.’”^(A) And yet God’s work was finished after He made the world.

God’s Rest

⁴ In the Holy Writings He said this about the seventh day when He made the whole world, “God rested on the seventh day from all He had made.” ^{(B) 5} But God said this about those who turned against Him, “They will not go into My rest.” ^{(C) 6} Those who heard the Good News first did not go into His rest. It was because they had not obeyed Him. But the promise is still good and some are going into His rest. ⁷ God has again set a certain day for people to go into His rest. He says through David many years later as He had said before, “If you hear His voice today, do not let your hearts become hard.” ^(D)

⁸ If Joshua had led those people into God’s rest, He would not have told of another day after that. ⁹ And so God’s people have a complete rest waiting for them. ¹⁰ The man who goes into God’s rest, rests from his own work the same as God rested from His work. ¹¹ Let us do our best to go into that rest or we will be like the people who did not go in.

¹² God’s Word is living and powerful. It is sharper than a sword that cuts both ways. It cuts straight into where the soul and spirit meet and it divides them. It cuts into the joints and bones. It tells what the heart is thinking about and what it wants to do. ¹³ No one can hide from God. His eyes see everything we do. We must give an answer to God for what we have done.

Jesus—Our Great Religious Leader

¹⁴ We have a great Religious Leader Who has made the way for man to go to God. He is Jesus, the Son of God, Who has gone to heaven to be with God. Let us keep our trust in Jesus Christ. ¹⁵ Our Religious Leader understands how weak we are. Christ was tempted in every way we are tempted, but He did not sin. ¹⁶ Let us go with complete trust to the throne of God. We will receive His loving-kindness and have His loving-favor to help us whenever we need it.

1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Joel, the son of Pethuel.

The Land Is Destroyed

² Hear this, you old men. Listen, all who live in the land. Has anything like this happened in your days or in your fathers’ days? ³ Tell your sons about it, and let your sons tell their sons, and their sons tell the next sons-to-come.

⁴ What the chewing locust has left, the flying locust has eaten. What the flying locust has left, the jumping locust has eaten. And what the jumping locust has left, the destroying locust has eaten. ⁵ Wake up and cry, you who drink too much. Cry in a loud voice, all you who drink wine, for the sweet wine has been taken from your lips. ⁶ A nation has come to fight against my land. Its army is powerful, with too many to number. Its teeth are the teeth of a lion. It has the long, sharp teeth of a female lion. ⁷ It has made my vine a waste, and has broken my fig tree to pieces. It has torn off their covering and thrown it away. Their branches have become white.

⁸ Cry in sorrow like a young, pure woman dressed in cloth made from hair because the man she was going to marry is dead. ⁹ The grain gifts and drink gifts have been cut off from the house of the Lord. The religious leaders who served the Lord are full of sorrow. ¹⁰ The fields are laid waste and the land is full of sorrow. The grain is destroyed, the new wine dries up, and the oil wastes away. ¹¹ Be troubled, you farmers! Cry in a loud voice, you who take care of the vines! Cry for the wheat and the barley, because what was gathered from the field is destroyed. ¹² The vine dries up and the fig tree wastes away. The pomegranate, the palm, the apple tree, and all the trees of the field dry up. And the people’s joy dries up.

¹³ Dress in cloth made from hair, and cry in sorrow, you religious leaders! Cry in a loud voice, you who serve at the altar! Come, spend the night in cloth made from hair, you who serve my God. For the grain gifts and drink gifts are kept from the house of your God. ¹⁴ Set apart a time when no food will be eaten. Call together a holy meeting. Gather the leaders and all the people of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord. ¹⁵ What a bad day it will be! The day of the Lord is near, when the All-powerful God will come to destroy. ¹⁶ Do you see how our food has been taken from us? Has not happiness and joy been cut off from the house of our God? ¹⁷ The seeds dry up under the ground. The store-houses are laid waste. The buildings where the grain was kept are torn down, for the grain is destroyed. ¹⁸ How the animals cry inside themselves! The cattle go from place to place because there is no food for them. Even the flocks of sheep suffer. ¹⁹ I cry to You, O Lord. For fire has destroyed the fields of the desert. All the trees of the field have burned up. ²⁰ Even the animals of the field cry to You. For the rivers are dried up, and fire has burned up the fields of the desert.

A Prayer for Help

140 O Lord, take me away from sinful men. Keep me safe from men who want to hurt others. ² They make sinful plans in their hearts. They always start wars. ³ They make their tongues sharp like a snake’s. And the poison of a snake is under their lips.

⁴ O Lord, keep me from the hands of the sinful. Keep me safe from men who want to hurt others and have planned to trip my feet. ⁵ The proud have hidden a trap for me. With ropes they have spread a net. They have set traps for me beside the road. ⁶ I said to the Lord, “You are my God. Listen to the voice of my prayers, O Lord. ⁷ O God the Lord, the strength that saves me, You have covered my head in the day of battle. ⁸ O Lord, do not give the sinful what they want. Do not let their plans work, or they will be honored.

⁹ “As for those who gather around me, may the wrong-doing of their lips come upon their heads. ¹⁰ May burning coals fall upon them. May they be thrown into the fire, into deep holes, and rise no more. ¹¹ Do not let the man whose talking hurts people stand in the land. May trouble hurry to catch and destroy the man who wants to hurt others.”

¹² I know that the Lord will stand by those who suffer and do what is right for the poor. ¹³ For sure those who are right and good will give thanks to Your name. Those who are right will live with You.

An Evening Prayer

141 I call upon You, O Lord. Hurry to me! Hear my voice when I call to You! ² May my prayer be like special perfume before You. May the lifting up of my hands be like the evening gift given on the altar in worship. ³ O Lord, put a watch over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. ⁴ Do not let my heart turn to any sinful thing, to do wrong with men who sin. And do not let me eat their fine food.

⁵ Let those who are right with God punish me and speak strong words to me in kindness. It is oil upon my head. Do not let my head turn away from it. Yet my prayer is always against the sinful works of those who sin. ⁶ When their rulers are thrown down from high rocks, they will hear my words, for they are true. ⁷ Our bones have been spread around the mouth of the grave like the broken ground behind the plow.

⁸ For my eyes are toward You, O God the Lord. In You I have a safe place. Do not leave me without help. ⁹ Keep me from the trap they have set for me. Keep me from the nets of those who do wrong. ¹⁰ Let the sinful fall into their own nets, while I pass by and am safe.