M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Evil Manasseh Reigns after Godly Hezekiah
21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Hephzibah. 2 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh, according to the detestable things of the nations that Yahweh had driven out from the presence of the Israelites.[a] 3 He returned and rebuilt the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed. He erected altars for Baal and made a pole of Asherah worship just as Ahab king of Israel had made, and he bowed down to all of the host of heaven and served them. 4 He built altars in the temple of Yahweh about which Yahweh had said, “I will put my name in Jerusalem.” 5 He built an altar to all of the host of heaven in the two courtyards of the temple of Yahweh. 6 He made his son pass through the fire, practiced soothsaying and divination, and dealt with mediums and spiritists. He increased the doing of evil in the eyes of Yahweh to provoke him. 7 He put the image of the Asherah that he had made in the temple which Yahweh had said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this temple and in Jerusalem which I have chosen from all of the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 I will not again make the feet of Israel wander from the land which I have given to their ancestors,[b] if they only observe to do according to all that I have commanded them, as far as the law that Moses my servant commanded them.” 9 But Manasseh did not listen and tempted them to do evil more than the nations that Yahweh destroyed before the presence of the Israelites.[c]
Yahweh Sends a Rebuke to Manasseh
10 So Yahweh spoke by the hand of his servants the prophets, saying, 11 “Because Manasseh the king of Judah committed these detestable things and did evil more than the Amorites did who were before him and caused even Judah to sin with his idols, 12 therefore, thus says Yahweh the God of Israel, ‘Look, I am bringing disaster upon Jerusalem and Judah about which the two ears of all who hear it will tingle. 13 I will stretch out over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes the dish; he wipes it and turns it on its face. 14 I will give up the remainder of my inheritance, and I will give them into the hand of their enemies. They shall become as prey and as spoil for all their enemies, 15 because they have done evil in my eyes and were provoking me from the day that their ancestors[d] came out from Egypt up to this day.’”
16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood until he filled Jerusalem from one end to another,[e] apart from his sin which he caused Judah to sin by doing evil in the eyes of Yahweh. 17 The remainder of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did and his sin that he committed, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? 18 Then Manasseh slept with his ancestors[f] and was buried in the garden of his palace, in the garden of Uzza. Amon his son became king in his place.
Amon Reigns in Judah Only Two Years
19 Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign, and he reigned two years in Jerusalem. The name of his mother was Meshullemeth the daughter of Haruz from Jotbah. 20 He did evil in the eyes of Yahweh as Manasseh his father had done. 21 He walked in all of the way which his father had walked, and he served the idols which his father had served and bowed down to them. 22 He abandoned Yahweh the God of his ancestors[g] and did not walk in the way of Yahweh. 23 The servants of Amon conspired against him and killed the king in his palace. 24 But the people of the land killed all who conspired against the king and made Josiah his son king in his place. 25 The remainder of the acts of Amon that he did, are they not written on the scroll of the events of the days of the kings of Judah? 26 They buried him in his tomb in the garden of Uzza, and Josiah his son became king in place of him.
The Superiority of Jesus to Moses
3 Therefore, holy brothers, sharers in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to the one who appointed him, as Moses also was in his household.[a] 3 For this one is considered worthy of greater glory than Moses, inasmuch as the one who builds it has greater honor than the house. 4 For every house is built by someone, but the one who built all things is God. 5 And Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, for a testimony to the things that would be spoken, 6 but Christ was faithful[b] as a son over his house, whose house we are, if[c] we hold fast to our confidence and the hope we can be proud of.
A Serious Warning Against Unbelief
7 Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
“Today, if you hear his voice,
8 do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion,
in the day of testing in the wilderness,
9 where your fathers tested me by trial
and saw my works 10 for forty years.
Therefore I was angry with this generation,
and I said, ‘They always go astray in their heart,
and they do not know my ways.’
11 As I swore in my anger,
‘They will never enter[d] into my rest.’”[e]
12 Watch out, brothers, lest there be in some of you an evil, unbelieving heart, with the result that you fall away[f] from the living God. 13 But encourage one another day by day[g], as long as it is called “today,” so that none of you become hardened[h] by the deception of sin. 14 For we have become partners of Christ, if indeed we hold fast the beginning of our commitment steadfast until the end, 15 while it is said[i],
“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion.”[j]
16 For who, when they[k] heard it, were disobedient? Surely it was not all who went out from Egypt through Moses? 17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose dead bodies fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did he swear they would not enter into his rest, except those who were disobedient? 19 And so we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief.
Return to Yahweh
14 Return to Yahweh your God, O Israel,
for you have stumbled because of your sin.
2 Take words with you,
and return to Yahweh.
Say to him,
“Take away all guilt;
accept good, and we will offer
the fruit[a] of our lips.
3 Assyria will not save us;
we will not ride on horses,[b]
and we will say no more, “Our God,”
to the work of our hands
because in you the fatherless child finds mercy.
4 I will heal their disloyalty;[c]
I will love them freely
because my anger has turned back
from them.[d]
5 I will be like the dew to Israel;
he will blossom like the lily plant,
and he will strike his roots like the trees of Lebanon.
6 His new plant shoots will spread out;
his splendor will be like the olive tree,
and his scent like the trees of Lebanon.
7 They will again dwell[e] in my[f] shadow;
they will grow grain
and they will blossom like the plant vine;
his fame will be like the wine of Lebanon.
8 O Ephraim, what have I to do[g] with idols?
I myself have answered and looked after you.[h]
I am like a luxuriant cypress;
your fruit[i] comes from me.
9 Who is wise that he can understand these things?
Who is discerning that he knows them?
The ways of Yahweh are right,
and the righteous walk in them;
but transgressors stumble in them.
The Knowledge of God
For the music director. Of David. A psalm.[a]
139 O Yahweh, you have searched me, and you know me.
2 You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You understand my thought from afar.
3 You search out[b] my wandering and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word yet on my tongue,
but behold, O Yahweh, you know it completely.
5 You barricade me behind and in front,
and set your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me.
It is set high; I cannot prevail against it.
7 Where I can go from your Spirit,
or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, there you are,
and if I make my bed in Sheol, look! There you are.
9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn,
and I alight on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand would lead me,
and your right hand would hold me fast.
11 And if I should say, “Surely darkness will cover me,
and the light around me will be as night,”
12 even the darkness is not too dark for you,[c]
and the night shines as the day—
the darkness and the light are alike for you.
13 Indeed you created my inward parts;[d]
you wove me in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you, because I am fearfully
and wonderfully made.[e]
Wonderful are your works,
and my soul knows it well.
15 My frame[f] was not hidden from you,
when I was created secretly,[g]
and intricately woven
in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,[h]
and in your book they all were written—
days fashioned for me when there was not one of them.
17 And to me, how precious[i] are your thoughts, O God;
how vast is their sum.
18 If I should count them,
they would outnumber the sand.
I awaken, and I am still with you.
19 If only you would kill the wicked, O God—
so get away from me, you bloodthirsty men—[j]
20 who speak against you deceitfully.
Your enemies take your name in vain.
21 Do I not hate those who hate you, O Yahweh?
And do I not loathe those who rise up against you?
22 I hate them with a complete hatred;
they have become my enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my anxious thoughts.
24 And see if there is in me the worship of false gods,[k]
and lead me in the way everlasting.
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