M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Judgment on the House of Jeroboam
14 At that time Abijah son of Jeroboam fell sick. 2 Jeroboam said to his wife, “Go, disguise yourself so that it will not be known that you are the wife of Jeroboam, and go to Shiloh, for the prophet Ahijah is there, who said of me that I should be king over this people.(A) 3 Take with you ten loaves, some cakes, and a jar of honey, and go to him; he will tell you what shall happen to the child.”(B)
4 Jeroboam’s wife did so; she set out and went to Shiloh and came to the house of Ahijah. Now Ahijah could not see, for his eyes were dim because of his age.(C) 5 But the Lord said to Ahijah, “The wife of Jeroboam is coming to inquire of you concerning her son, for he is sick. Thus and thus you shall say to her when she comes. She will pretend to be another woman.”(D)
6 But when Ahijah heard the sound of her feet as she came in at the door, he said, “Come in, wife of Jeroboam; why do you pretend to be another? For I am charged with heavy tidings for you. 7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Because I exalted you from among the people, made you leader over my people Israel,(E) 8 and tore the kingdom away from the house of David to give it to you, yet you have not been like my servant David, who kept my commandments and followed me with all his heart, doing only that which was right in my sight,(F) 9 but you have done evil above all those who were before you and have gone and made for yourself other gods and cast images, provoking me to anger, and have thrust me behind your back,(G) 10 therefore I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam. I will cut off from Jeroboam every male, both bond and free in Israel, and will consume the house of Jeroboam, just as one burns up dung until it is all gone.(H) 11 Anyone belonging to Jeroboam who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone who dies in the open country the birds of the air shall eat, for the Lord has spoken.’(I) 12 Therefore set out, go to your house. When your feet enter the city, the child shall die.(J) 13 All Israel shall mourn for him and bury him, for he alone of Jeroboam’s family shall come to the grave, because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam.(K) 14 Moreover the Lord will raise up for himself a king over Israel who shall cut off the house of Jeroboam today, even right now
15 “The Lord will strike Israel as a reed is shaken in the water; he will root up Israel out of this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates, because they have made their sacred poles,[b] provoking the Lord to anger.(M) 16 He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, which he sinned and which he caused Israel to commit.”(N)
17 Then Jeroboam’s wife got up and went away, and she came to Tirzah. As she came to the threshold of the house, the child died. 18 All Israel buried him and mourned for him, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by his servant the prophet Ahijah.
Death of Jeroboam
19 Now the rest of the acts of Jeroboam, how he warred and how he reigned, are written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel.(O) 20 The time that Jeroboam reigned was twenty-two years; then he slept with his ancestors, and his son Nadab succeeded him.
Rehoboam Reigns over Judah
21 Now Rehoboam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite.(P) 22 Judah did what was evil in the sight of the Lord; they provoked him to jealousy with their sins that they committed, more than all that their ancestors had done.(Q) 23 For they also built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred poles[c] on every high hill and under every green tree;(R) 24 there were also illicit priests in the land. They committed all the abominations of the nations that the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel.(S)
25 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, King Shishak of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;(T) 26 he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king’s house; he took everything. He also took away all the shields of gold that Solomon had made,(U) 27 so King Rehoboam made shields of bronze instead and committed them to the hands of the officers of the guard who kept the door of the king’s house. 28 As often as the king went into the house of the Lord, the guard carried them and brought them back to the guardroom.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Rehoboam and all that he did, are they not written in the Book of the Annals of the Kings of Judah?(V) 30 There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually.(W) 31 Rehoboam slept with his ancestors and was buried with his ancestors in the city of David. His mother’s name was Naamah the Ammonite. His son Abijam succeeded him.(X)
Salutation
1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,
2 To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father.[a]
Paul Thanks God for the Colossians
3 In our prayers for you we always thank God, the[b] Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,(A) 4 for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints,(B) 5 because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel(C) 6 that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God.(D) 7 This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our[c] behalf,(E) 8 and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.
9 For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God’s[d] will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,(F) 10 so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.(G) 11 May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully(H) 12 giving thanks to the Father,[e] who has enabled[f] you[g] to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. 13 He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son,(I) 14 in whom we have redemption,[h] the forgiveness of sins.
The Supremacy of Christ
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,(J) 16 for in[i] him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He himself is before all things, and in[j] him all things hold together. 18 He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.(K) 19 For in him all the fullness of God[k] was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.(L)
21 And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled[l] in his fleshly body[m] through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,(M) 23 provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature[n] under heaven. I, Paul, became a minister of this gospel.(N)
Paul’s Interest in the Colossians
24 I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church. 25 I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,(O) 26 the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.(P) 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.(Q) 28 It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.[o](R) 29 For this I toil and strive with all the energy that he powerfully inspires within me.(S)
The Closed Gate
44 Then he brought me back to the outer gate of the sanctuary that faces east, and it was shut. 2 The Lord said to me: “This gate shall remain shut; it shall not be opened, and no one shall enter by it, for the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it; therefore it shall remain shut. 3 Only the prince, because he is a prince, may sit in it to eat food before the Lord; he shall enter by way of the vestibule of the gate and shall go out by the same way.”(A)
Admission to the Temple
4 Then he brought me by way of the north gate to the front of the temple, and I looked, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple of the Lord, and I fell upon my face.(B) 5 The Lord said to me: “Mortal, mark well, look closely, and listen attentively to all that I shall tell you concerning all the ordinances of the temple of the Lord and all its laws, and mark well the entrances[a] to the temple and all the exits of the sanctuary.(C) 6 Say to the rebellious house,[b] to the house of Israel: Thus says the Lord God: O house of Israel, let there be an end to all your abominations(D) 7 in admitting foreigners, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, to be in my sanctuary, profaning my temple when you offer to me my food, the fat and the blood. You[c] have broken my covenant with all your abominations.(E) 8 And you have not kept charge of my sacred offerings, but you have appointed foreigners[d] to act for you in keeping my charge in my sanctuary.
9 “Thus says the Lord God: No foreigner, uncircumcised in heart and flesh, of all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, shall enter my sanctuary. 10 But the Levites who went far from me, going astray from me after their idols when Israel went astray, shall bear their punishment.(F) 11 They shall be ministers in my sanctuary, having oversight at the gates of the temple and serving in the temple; they shall slaughter the burnt offering and the sacrifice for the people, and they shall attend on them and serve them.(G) 12 Because they ministered to them before their idols and made the house of Israel stumble into iniquity, therefore I have sworn concerning them, says the Lord God, that they shall bear their punishment.(H) 13 They shall not come near to me, to serve me as priest, nor come near any of my sacred offerings, the things that are most sacred, but they shall bear their shame and the consequences of the abominations that they have committed.(I) 14 Yet I will appoint them to keep charge of the temple, to do all its chores, all that is to be done in it.(J)
The Levitical Priests
15 “But the Levitical priests, the descendants of Zadok, who kept the charge of my sanctuary when the people of Israel went astray from me, shall come near to me to minister to me, and they shall attend me to offer me the fat and the blood, says the Lord God.(K) 16 It is they who shall enter my sanctuary; it is they who shall approach my table to minister to me, and they shall keep my charge. 17 When they enter the gates of the inner court, they shall wear linen vestments; they shall have nothing of wool on them while they minister at the gates of the inner court and within the temple.(L) 18 They shall have linen turbans on their heads and linen undergarments on their loins; they shall not bind themselves with anything that causes sweat.(M) 19 When they go out into the outer court to the people, they shall remove the vestments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, so that they may not communicate holiness to the people with their vestments.(N) 20 They shall not shave their heads or let their locks grow long; they shall only trim the hair of their heads. 21 No priest shall drink wine when he enters the inner court.(O) 22 They shall not marry a widow or a divorced woman but only a virgin of the stock of the house of Israel or a widow who is the widow of a priest.(P) 23 They shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the common and show them how to distinguish between the unclean and the clean.(Q) 24 In a dispute they shall act as judges, and they shall decide it according to my judgments. They shall keep my laws and my statutes regarding all my appointed festivals, and they shall keep my Sabbaths holy.(R) 25 They shall not defile themselves by going near a dead person; for father or mother, however, and for son or daughter and for brother or unmarried sister they may defile themselves.(S) 26 After he has become clean, they shall count seven days for him.(T) 27 On the day that he goes into the holy place, into the inner court, to minister in the holy place, he shall offer his purification offering, says the Lord God.
28 “This shall be their inheritance: I am their inheritance, and you shall give them no holding in Israel; I am their holding.(U) 29 They shall eat the grain offering, the purification offering, and the guilt offering, and every devoted thing in Israel shall be theirs.(V) 30 The first of all the first fruits of all kinds and every offering of all kinds from all your offerings shall belong to the priests; you shall also give to the priests the first of your dough, in order that a blessing may rest on your house.(W) 31 The priests shall not eat of anything, whether bird or animal, that died of itself or was torn by animals.(X)
Psalm 97
The Glory of God’s Reign
1 The Lord is king! Let the earth rejoice;
let the many coastlands be glad!(A)
2 Clouds and thick darkness are all around him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.(B)
3 Fire goes before him
and consumes his adversaries on every side.(C)
4 His lightnings light up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
5 The mountains melt like wax before the Lord,
before the Lord of all the earth.(D)
6 The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all the peoples behold his glory.
7 All servants of images are put to shame,
those who make their boast in worthless idols;
all gods bow down before him.(E)
8 Zion hears and is glad,
and the towns[a] of Judah rejoice
because of your judgments, O God.(F)
9 For you, O Lord, are most high over all the earth;
you are exalted far above all gods.(G)
10 You who love the Lord, hate evil;
he guards the lives of his faithful;
he rescues them from the hand of the wicked.(H)
11 Light dawns[b] for the righteous
and joy for the upright in heart.(I)
12 Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous,
and give thanks to his holy name!
Psalm 98
Praise the Judge of the World
A Psalm.
1 O sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvelous things.
His right hand and his holy arm
have gotten him victory.(J)
2 The Lord has made known his victory;
he has revealed his vindication in the sight of the nations.(K)
3 He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
the victory of our God.(L)
New Revised Standard Version, Updated Edition. Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.