M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Hezekiah Consults Isaiah
19 When King Hezekiah heard it, he tore his clothes, covered himself with sackcloth, and went into the house of the Lord.(A) 2 And he sent Eliakim, who was in charge of the palace, and Shebna the secretary, and the senior priests, covered with sackcloth, to the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.(B) 3 They said to him, “Thus says Hezekiah: This day is a day of distress, of rebuke, and of disgrace; children have come to the birth, and there is no strength to bring them forth. 4 It may be that the Lord your God heard all the words of the Rabshakeh, whom his master the king of Assyria has sent to mock the living God, and will rebuke the words that the Lord your God has heard; therefore lift up your prayer for the remnant that is left.”(C) 5 When the servants of King Hezekiah came to Isaiah, 6 Isaiah said to them, “Say to your master: Thus says the Lord: Do not be afraid because of the words that you have heard, with which the servants of the king of Assyria have reviled me.(D) 7 I myself will put a spirit in him so that he shall hear a rumor and return to his own land; I will cause him to fall by the sword in his own land.”(E)
Sennacherib’s Threat
8 The Rabshakeh returned and found the king of Assyria fighting against Libnah, for he had heard that the king had left Lachish.(F) 9 When the king[a] heard concerning King Tirhakah of Cush, “See, he has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, 10 “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria.(G) 11 See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? 12 Have the gods of the nations delivered them, the nations that my predecessors destroyed: Gozan, Haran, Rezeph, and the people of Eden who were in Telassar?(H) 13 Where is the king of Hamath, the king of Arpad, the king of the city of Sepharvaim, the king of Hena, or the king of Ivvah?”(I)
Hezekiah’s Prayer
14 Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord.(J) 15 And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord and said, “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth.(K) 16 Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God.(L) 17 Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands 18 and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed.(M) 19 So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.”(N)
20 Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria.(O) 21 This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him:
She despises you; she scorns you—
virgin daughter Zion;
she tosses her head—behind your back,
daughter Jerusalem.(P)
22 Whom have you mocked and reviled?
Against whom have you raised your voice
and haughtily lifted your eyes?
Against the Holy One of Israel!(Q)
23 By your messengers you have mocked the Lord,
and you have said, ‘With my many chariots
I have gone up the heights of the mountains,
to the far recesses of Lebanon;
I felled its tallest cedars,
its choicest cypresses;
I entered its farthest retreat,
its densest forest.(R)
24 I dug wells
and drank foreign waters,
I dried up with the sole of my foot
all the streams of Egypt.’(S)
25 Have you not heard
that I determined it long ago?
I planned from days of old
what now I bring to pass,
that you should make fortified cities
crash into heaps of ruins,(T)
26 while their inhabitants, shorn of strength,
are dismayed and confounded;
they have become like plants of the field
and like tender grass,
like grass on the housetops
that is scorched before the east wind.[b](U)
27 But I know your sitting
and your going out and your coming in
and your raging against me.
28 Because you have raged against me
and your arrogance has come to my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth;
I will turn you back on the way
by which you came.(V)
29 “And this shall be the sign for you: This year you shall eat what grows of itself and in the second year what springs from that; then in the third year sow, reap, plant vineyards, and eat their fruit.(W) 30 The surviving remnant of the house of Judah shall again take root downward and bear fruit upward,(X) 31 for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.(Y)
32 “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. 33 By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord.(Z) 34 For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.”(AA)
Sennacherib’s Defeat and Death
35 That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies.(AB) 36 Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh.(AC) 37 As he was worshiping in the house of his god Nisroch, his sons Adrammelech and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped into the land of Ararat. His son Esar-haddon succeeded him.(AD)
God Has Spoken by His Son
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,[a] whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds.(A) 3 He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains[b] all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for[c] sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,(B) 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.(C)
The Son Is Superior to Angels
5 For to which of the angels did God[d] ever say,
“You are my Son;
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be his Father,
and he will be my Son”?(D)
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds
and his servants flames of fire.”(E)
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is[e] forever and ever,
and the scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your[f] kingdom.(F)
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;[g]
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”(G)
10 And,
“In the beginning, Lord, you founded the earth,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;(H)
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like clothing;(I)
12 like a cloak you will roll them up,
and like clothing[h] they will be changed.
But you are the same,
and your years will never end.”
13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?(J)
14 Are not all angels[i] spirits in the divine service, sent to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?(K)
12 Ephraim herds the wind
and pursues the east wind all day long;
they multiply falsehood and violence;
they make a treaty with Assyria,
and oil is carried to Egypt.(A)
The Long History of Rebellion
2 The Lord has an indictment against Judah
and will punish Jacob according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.(B)
3 In the womb he tried to supplant his brother,
and in his manhood he strove with God.(C)
4 He strove with the angel and prevailed;
he wept and sought his favor;
he met him at Bethel,
and there he spoke with him.[a](D)
5 The Lord the God of hosts,
the Lord is his name!
6 But as for you, return to your God;
hold fast to love and justice,
and wait continually for your God.(E)
7 A trader in whose hands are false balances,
he loves to oppress.(F)
8 Ephraim has said, “Ah, I am rich;
I have gained wealth for myself;
in all of my gain
no offense has been found in me
that would be sin.”[b](G)
9 I am the Lord your God
from the land of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of the appointed festival.(H)
10 I spoke to the prophets;
it was I who multiplied visions,
and through the prophets I will bring destruction.(I)
11 In[c] Gilead there is iniquity;
they shall surely come to nothing.
In Gilgal they sacrifice bulls,
so their altars shall be like stone heaps
on the furrows of the field.(J)
12 Jacob fled to the land of Aram;
there Israel served for a wife,
and for a wife he guarded sheep.[d](K)
13 By a prophet the Lord brought Israel up from Egypt,
and by a prophet he was guarded.(L)
14 Ephraim has given bitter offense,
so his Lord will bring his crimes down on him
and pay him back for his insults.(M)
Psalm 135
Praise for God’s Goodness and Might
1 Praise the Lord!
Praise the name of the Lord;
give praise, O servants of the Lord,
2 you who stand in the house of the Lord,
in the courts of the house of our God.(A)
3 Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
sing to his name, for he is gracious.(B)
4 For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
Israel as his own possession.(C)
5 For I know that the Lord is great;
our Lord is above all gods.(D)
6 Whatever the Lord pleases he does,
in heaven and on earth,
in the seas and all deeps.(E)
7 He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth;
he makes lightnings for the rain
and brings out the wind from his storehouses.(F)
8 He it was who struck down the firstborn of Egypt,
both humans and animals;(G)
9 he sent signs and wonders
into your midst, O Egypt,
against Pharaoh and all his servants.(H)
10 He struck down many nations
and killed mighty kings—(I)
11 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
and Og, king of Bashan,
and all the kingdoms of Canaan—(J)
12 and gave their land as a heritage,
a heritage to his people Israel.(K)
13 Your name, O Lord, endures forever,
your renown, O Lord, throughout all ages.(L)
14 For the Lord will vindicate his people
and have compassion on his servants.(M)
15 The idols of the nations are silver and gold,
the work of human hands.(N)
16 They have mouths, but they do not speak;
they have eyes, but they do not see;
17 they have ears, but they do not hear,
a nose, but there is no breath in their mouths.
18 Those who make them
and all who trust them
shall become like them.
19 O house of Israel, bless the Lord!
O house of Aaron, bless the Lord!(O)
20 O house of Levi, bless the Lord!
You who fear the Lord, bless the Lord!(P)
21 Blessed be the Lord from Zion,
he who resides in Jerusalem.
Praise the Lord!(Q)
Psalm 136
God’s Work in Creation and in History
1 O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.(R)
2 O give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.(S)
3 O give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
4 who alone does great wonders,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(T)
5 who by understanding made the heavens,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(U)
6 who spread out the earth on the waters,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(V)
7 who made the great lights,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(W)
8 the sun to rule over the day,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(X)
9 the moon and stars to rule over the night,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
10 who struck Egypt through their firstborn,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(Y)
11 and brought Israel out from among them,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(Z)
12 with a strong hand and an outstretched arm,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AA)
13 who divided the Red Sea[a] in two,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AB)
14 and made Israel pass through the midst of it,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AC)
15 but overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea,[b]
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AD)
16 who led his people through the wilderness,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AE)
who made water flow from the rock,
for his steadfast love endures forever;[c]
17 who struck down great kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AF)
18 and killed famous kings,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
19 Sihon, king of the Amorites,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
20 and Og, king of Bashan,
for his steadfast love endures forever;
21 and gave their land as a heritage,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AG)
22 a heritage to his servant Israel,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
23 It is he who remembered us in our low estate,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AH)
24 and rescued us from our foes,
for his steadfast love endures forever;(AI)
25 who gives food to all flesh,
for his steadfast love endures forever.(AJ)
26 O give thanks to the God of heaven,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
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.