M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hezekiah Purifies the Temple

29 Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he ruled twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah daughter of Zechariah. ² Hezekiah did what the Lord said was right, just as his ancestor David had done.

³ Hezekiah opened the doors of the Temple of the Lord and repaired them in the first month of the first year he was king. ⁴ Hezekiah brought in the priests and Levites and gathered them in the courtyard on the east side of the Temple. ⁵ Hezekiah said, “Listen to me, Levites. Make yourselves ready for the Lord’s service, and make holy the Temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Remove from the Temple everything that makes it impure. ⁶ Our ancestors were unfaithful to God and did what the Lord said was wrong. They left the Lord and stopped worshiping at the Temple where he lives. They rejected him. ⁷ They shut the doors of the porch of the Temple, and they let the fire go out in the lamps. They stopped burning incense and offering burnt offerings in the holy place to the God of Israel. ⁸ So the Lord became very angry with the people of Judah and Jerusalem, and he punished them. Other people are frightened and shocked by what he did to them. So they insult the people of Judah. You know these things are true. ⁹ That is why our ancestors were killed in battle and our sons, daughters, and wives were taken captive. ¹⁰ Now I, Hezekiah, have decided to make an agreement with the Lord, the God of Israel, so he will not be angry with us anymore. ¹¹ My sons, don’t waste any more time. The Lord chose you to stand before him, to serve him, to be his servants, and to burn incense to him.”

¹² These are the Levites who started to work. From the Kohathite family there were Mahath son of Amasai and Joel son of Azariah. From the Merarite family there were Kish son of Abdi and Azariah son of Jehallelel. From the Gershonite family there were Joah son of Zimmah and Eden son of Joah. ¹³ From Elizaphan’s family there were Shimri and Jeiel. From Asaph’s family there were Zechariah and Mattaniah. ¹⁴ From Heman’s family there were Jehiel and Shimei. From Jeduthun’s family there were Shemaiah and Uzziel.

¹⁵ These Levites gathered their brothers together and made themselves holy for service in the Temple. Then they went into the Temple of the Lord to purify it. They obeyed the king’s command that had come from the Lord. ¹⁶ When the priests went into the Temple of the Lord to purify it, they took out all the unclean things they found in the Temple of the Lord and put them in the Temple courtyard. Then the Levites took these things out to the Kidron Valley. ¹⁷ Beginning on the first day of the first month, they made the Temple holy for the Lord’s service. On the eighth day of the month, they came to the porch of the Temple, and for eight more days they made the Temple of the Lord holy. So they finished on the sixteenth day of the first month.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah and said, “We have purified the entire Temple of the Lord, the altar for burnt offerings and its utensils, and the table for the holy bread and all its utensils. ¹⁹ When Ahaz was king, he was unfaithful to God and removed some things from the Temple. But we have put them back and made them holy for the Lord. They are now in front of the Lord’s altar.”

²⁰ Early the next morning King Hezekiah gathered the leaders of the city and went up to the Temple of the Lord. ²¹ They brought seven bulls, seven male sheep, seven lambs, and seven male goats. These animals were an offering to remove the sin of the people and the kingdom of Judah and to make the Temple ready for service to God. King Hezekiah commanded the priests, the descendants of Aaron, to offer these animals on the Lord’s altar. ²² So the priests killed the bulls and sprinkled their blood on the altar. They killed the sheep and sprinkled their blood on the altar. Then they killed the lambs and sprinkled their blood on the altar. ²³ Then the priests brought the male goats for the sin offering before the king and the people there. After the king and the people put their hands on the goats, ²⁴ the priests killed them. With the goats’ blood they made an offering on the altar to remove the sins of the Israelites so they would belong to God. The king had said that the burnt offering and sin offering should be made for all Israel.

²⁵ King Hezekiah put the Levites in the Temple of the Lord with cymbals, harps, and lyres, as David, Gad, and Nathan had commanded. (Gad was the king’s seer, and Nathan was a prophet.) This command came from the Lord through his prophets. ²⁶ So the Levites stood ready with David’s instruments of music, and the priests stood ready with their trumpets.

²⁷ Then Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. When the burnt offering began, the singing to the Lord also began. The trumpets were blown, and the musical instruments of David king of Israel were played. ²⁸ All the people worshiped, the singers sang, and the trumpeters blew their trumpets until the burnt offering was finished.

²⁹ When the sacrifices were completed, King Hezekiah and everyone with him bowed down and worshiped. ³⁰ King Hezekiah and his officers ordered the Levites to praise the Lord, using the words David and Asaph the seer had used. So they praised God with joy and bowed down and worshiped.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, “Now that you people of Judah have given yourselves to the Lord, come near to the Temple of the Lord. Bring sacrifices and offerings, to show thanks to him.” So the people brought sacrifices and thank offerings, and anyone who was willing also brought burnt offerings. ³² For burnt offerings they brought a total of seventy bulls, one hundred male sheep, and two hundred lambs; all these animals were sacrificed as burnt offerings to the Lord. ³³ The holy offerings totaled six hundred bulls and three thousand sheep and goats. ³⁴ There were not enough priests to skin all the animals for the burnt offerings. So their relatives the Levites helped them until the work was finished and other priests could be made holy. The Levites had been more careful to make themselves holy for the Lord’s service than the priests. ³⁵ There were many burnt offerings along with the fat of fellowship offerings and drink offerings. So the service in the Temple of the Lord began again. ³⁶ And Hezekiah and the people were very happy that God had made it happen so quickly for his people.

The Last Troubles

15 Then I saw another wonder in heaven that was great and amazing. There were seven angels bringing seven disasters. These are the last disasters, because after them, God’s anger is finished.

² I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. All of those who had won the victory over the beast and his idol and over the number of his name were standing by the sea of glass. They had harps that God had given them. ³ They sang the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:

⁵ After this I saw that the temple (the Tent of the Agreement) in heaven was opened. ⁶ And the seven angels bringing the seven disasters came out of the temple. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden bands tied around their chests. ⁷ Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the anger of God, who lives forever and ever. ⁸ The temple was filled with smoke from the glory and the power of God, and no one could enter the temple until the seven disasters of the seven angels were finished.

The Two Shepherds

⁴ This is what the Lord my God says: “Feed the flock that are about to be killed. ⁵ Their buyers kill them and are not punished. Those who sell them say, ‘Praise the Lord, I am rich.’ Even the shepherds don’t feel sorry for their sheep. ⁶ I don’t feel sorry anymore for the people of this country,” says the Lord. “I will let everyone be under the power of his neighbor and king. They will bring trouble to the country, and I will not save anyone from them.”

⁷ So I fed the flock about to be killed, particularly the weakest ones. Then I took two sticks; I called one Pleasant and the other Union, and I fed the flock. ⁸ In one month I got rid of three shepherds. The flock did not pay attention to me, and I got impatient with them. ⁹ I said, “I will no longer take care of you like a shepherd. Let those that are dying die, and let those that are to be destroyed be destroyed. Let those that are left eat each other.”

¹⁰ Then I broke the stick named Pleasant to break the agreement God made with all the nations. ¹¹ That day it was broken. The weak ones in the flock who were watching me knew this message was from the Lord.

¹² Then I said, “If you want to pay me, pay me. If not, then don’t.” So they paid me thirty pieces of silver.

¹³ The Lord said to me, “Throw the money to the potter.” That is how little they thought I was worth.^[b] So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them to the potter in the Temple of the Lord.

¹⁴ Then I broke the second stick, named Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, “Get the things used by a foolish shepherd again, ¹⁶ because I am going to get a new shepherd for the country. He will not care for the dying sheep, or look for the young ones, or heal the injured ones, or feed the healthy. But he will eat the best sheep and tear off their hoofs.

Jesus Comforts His Followers

14 Jesus said, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father’s house; I would not tell you this if it were not true. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³ After I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”^[a]

⁵ Thomas said to Jesus, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going. So how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. The only way to the Father is through me. ⁷ If you really knew me, you would know my Father, too. But now you do know him, and you have seen him.”

⁸ Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father. That is all we need.”

⁹ Jesus answered, “I have been with you a long time now. Do you still not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, ‘Show us the Father’? ¹⁰ Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you don’t come from me, but the Father lives in me and does his own work. ¹¹ Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Or believe because of the miracles I have done. ¹² I tell you the truth, whoever believes in me will do the same things that I do. Those who believe will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. ¹³ And if you ask for anything in my name, I will do it for you so that the Father’s glory will be shown through the Son. ¹⁴ If you ask me for anything in my name, I will do it.

The Promise of the Holy Spirit

¹⁵ “If you love me, you will obey my commands. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper^[b] to be with you forever— ¹⁷ the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he lives with you and he will be in you.

¹⁸ “I will not leave you all alone like orphans; I will come back to you. ¹⁹ In a little while the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you will live, too. ²⁰ On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and that you are in me and I am in you. ²¹ Those who know my commands and obey them are the ones who love me, and my Father will love those who love me. I will love them and will show myself to them.”

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you plan to show yourself to us and not to the rest of the world?”

²³ Jesus answered, “If people love me, they will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. ²⁴ Those who do not love me do not obey my teaching. This teaching that you hear is not really mine; it is from my Father, who sent me.

²⁵ “I have told you all these things while I am with you. ²⁶ But the Helper will teach you everything and will cause you to remember all that I told you. This Helper is the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name.

²⁷ “I leave you peace; my peace I give you. I do not give it to you as the world does. So don’t let your hearts be troubled or afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, ‘I am going, but I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you should be happy that I am going back to the Father, because he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens, you will believe. ³⁰ I will not talk with you much longer, because the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, ³¹ but the world must know that I love the Father, so I do exactly what the Father told me to do.

“Come now, let us go.