M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hezekiah Keeps the Passover

30 Hezekiah sent word to all Israel and Judah. He wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh also, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel. ² For the king and his rulers and all the people in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month. ³ For they could not keep it at the set time, because there had not been enough religious leaders who had made themselves holy. And the people had not been gathered to Jerusalem. ⁴ So the new time pleased the king and all the people. ⁵ And they made it known in all Israel, from Beer-sheba to Dan, that they should come to keep the Passover to the Lord God of Israel at Jerusalem. For great numbers of people had not kept it, as they were told to do. ⁶ Men were sent through all Israel and Judah with the letters from the hand of the king and his rulers, as the king had told them. The letters said, “O sons of Israel, return to the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, that He may return to those of you who have not been taken away by the kings of Assyria. ⁷ Do not be like your fathers and your brothers. They were not faithful to the Lord God of their fathers, so He gave them a reason to fear, as you see. ⁸ Now do not make your hearts hard like your fathers, but give yourselves to the Lord. Come to His holy place which He has set apart forever. And worship the Lord your God, that His burning anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your sons will be shown pity by those who took them away, and will return to this land. For the Lord your God is kind and loving. He will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him.”

¹⁰ So the men took the letters from city to city through the country of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun. But the people laughed at them and made fun of them. ¹¹ Only a few men of Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun put away their pride and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the rulers told them by the Word of the Lord.

The People Keep the Passover

¹³ Many people gathered together at Jerusalem to keep the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast in the second month. There were very many people. ¹⁴ They took away the altars which were in Jerusalem. And they also took away all the special perfume altars and threw them into the river of Kidron. ¹⁵ Then they killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the second month. The religious leaders and Levites were ashamed and made themselves holy, and brought burnt gifts to the house of the Lord. ¹⁶ They stood in their places as they should, as given by the Law of Moses the man of God. The religious leaders placed the blood which they received from the hand of the Levites. ¹⁷ For there were many of the people who had not made themselves holy. So the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for every one who was unclean, to make them holy to the Lord. ¹⁸ For many of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun, had not made themselves clean. Yet they ate the Passover in a different way than had been written. For Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good Lord forgive everyone ¹⁹ who makes his heart ready to look for God, the Lord God of his fathers, even if he does not follow the rules of the holy place for making himself clean.” ²⁰ And the Lord heard Hezekiah, and healed the people. ²¹ The people of Israel who were there in Jerusalem kept the Special Supper of Bread Without Yeast for seven days with great joy. The Levites and the religious leaders praised the Lord day after day, singing with loud music to the Lord. ²² Then Hezekiah spoke comforting words to all the Levites who had good understanding in the Lord’s work. So the people ate the food of the Special Supper for seven days, giving peace gifts and thanks to the Lord God of their fathers.

²³ Then all the people decided to keep the Special Supper for another seven days. So they kept it for another seven days with joy. ²⁴ For King Hezekiah of Judah had given the people 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep. And the rulers had given the people 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. And a large number of religious leaders made themselves holy. ²⁵ All the people of Judah were filled with joy, with the religious leaders and the Levites, and all the people who came from Israel. Both the people who came from the land of Israel and those living in Judah were filled with joy. ²⁶ So there was great joy in Jerusalem, because there was nothing like this in Jerusalem since the days of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel. ²⁷ Then the religious leaders and Levites stood and prayed that good would come to the people. And their voice was heard. Their prayer came to the Lord’s holy place in heaven.

The First Jar—Painful Sores

16 Then I heard a loud voice coming from the house of God. The voice said to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven jars of God’s anger onto the earth!”

² The first angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the earth. Painful sores were given to everyone who had the mark of the wild animal and who worshiped his god.

The Second Jar—Death in the Sea

³ The second angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the sea. The water became like the blood of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.

The Third Jar—Water Turns to Blood

⁴ The third angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the rivers and places where water comes out of the earth. The water turned to blood. ⁵ I heard the angel of the waters saying, “You are right in punishing by sending this trouble. You are the Holy One Who was and is and will be. ⁶ They have poured out the blood of God’s people and of the early preachers. You have given them blood to drink. They are getting the pay that is coming to them.” ⁷ I heard a voice from the altar saying, “Lord God, the All-powerful One! What You decide about people is right and true.”

The Fourth Jar—Burning Heat

⁸ The fourth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the sun. It was allowed to burn men with its fire. ⁹ Men were burned with the heat of this fire and they called God bad names even when He had the power over these kinds of trouble. They were not sorry for their sins and did not turn from them and honor Him.

The Fifth Jar—Darkness

¹⁰ The fifth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger upon the throne of the wild animal. The whole nation of the wild animal was turned into darkness. Those who worshiped him bit their tongues because of the pain. ¹¹ They called the God of heaven bad names because of their pain and their sores. They were not sorry for what they had done.

The Sixth Jar—the Euphrates River Dries Up

¹² The sixth angel poured out his jar of God’s anger onto the great Euphrates River. The water dried up. In this way, the kings of the countries of the east could cross over. ¹³ Then I saw three demons that looked like frogs. They came out of the mouths of the dragon and the second wild animal and the false preacher. ¹⁴ These are demons that do powerful works. These demons go to all the kings of all the earth. They bring them together for the war of the great day of the All-powerful God.

¹⁵ (See! I will come like a robber. The man is happy who stays awake and keeps his clothes ready. He will not be walking around without clothes and be ashamed.) ¹⁶ Then the demons brought the kings together in the place called Armageddon in the Hebrew language.

The Seventh Jar—the Earth Shakes and Hail Falls

¹⁷ The seventh angel poured out his jar of God’s anger into the air. A loud voice came from the throne in the house of God, saying, “It is all done!” ¹⁸ Then there were voices and lightning and thunder and the earth shook. The earth shook much more than it had ever shaken before. ¹⁹ The big and strong city of Babylon was split in three parts. The cities of other nations fell to the ground. Then God remembered the strong city of Babylon. He made her drink the wine from His cup of much anger. ²⁰ Every island went down into the sea. No mountain could be found. ²¹ Large pieces of hail fell from heaven on men. These pieces were about as heavy as an older child. But men called God bad names because of so much trouble from the hail.

Judah to Be Saved

12 The Word of the Lord about Israel:

The Lord, Who spread out the heavens, who put the earth in its place, and made the spirit of man within him says this about Israel: ² “I am going to make Jerusalem like a cup that makes all the people around it seem to be drunk. Judah will be shut in by armies as well as Jerusalem. ³ On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the people. All who lift it will be hurt. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. ⁴ On that day,” says the Lord, “I will put fear in every horse, and make the horsemen crazy. But I will watch over the people of Judah, while I make every horse of the nations blind. ⁵ Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘The people of Jerusalem are strong because of the Lord of All, their God.’ ⁶ On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a pot of fire among pieces of wood, like fire among cut grain. They will destroy all the people around them, on the right and on the left. And the people of Jerusalem will again live on their own land in Jerusalem. ⁷ The Lord will save the tents of Judah first, so that the shining-greatness of the family of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not be greater than that of Judah. ⁸ On that day the Lord will fight for the people of Jerusalem. The one who is weak among them on that day will be like David. And the family of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord leading them. ⁹ On that day I will destroy every nation that comes against Jerusalem.

Sorrow in Jerusalem

¹⁰ “I will pour out the Spirit of loving-favor and prayer on the family of David and on those who live in Jerusalem. They will look on Him Whose side they cut. They will cry in sorrow for Him, as one cries for an only son. They will cry much over Him, like those who have lost their first-born son. ¹¹ On that day there will be much crying in Jerusalem, like the cries of Hadadrimmon in the plain of Megiddo. ¹² The land will be filled with sorrow, each family by itself. The families of David and their wives, and the family of Nathan and their wives, will each be filled with sorrow. ¹³ The family of Levi and their wives will cry in sorrow, and the family of the Shimeites and their wives, ¹⁴ and all the families that are left, and their wives.

False Gods and False Preachers

13 “On that day a well of water will be opened for the family of David and for the people of Jerusalem to make them clean from their sin.

The Vine and the Branches

15 “I am the true Vine. My Father is the One Who cares for the Vine. ² He takes away any branch in Me that does not give fruit. Any branch that gives fruit, He cuts it back so it will give more fruit. ³ You are made clean by the words I have spoken to you. ⁴ Get your life from Me and I will live in you. No branch can give fruit by itself. It has to get life from the vine. You are able to give fruit only when you have life from Me. ⁵ I am the Vine and you are the branches. Get your life from Me. Then I will live in you and you will give much fruit. You can do nothing without Me.

⁶ “If anyone does not get his life from Me, he is cut off like a branch and dries up. Such branches are gathered and thrown into the fire and they are burned. ⁷ If you get your life from Me and My Words live in you, ask whatever you want. It will be done for you.

⁸ “When you give much fruit, My Father is honored. This shows you are My followers. ⁹ I have loved you just as My Father has loved Me. Stay in My love. ¹⁰ If you obey My teaching, you will live in My love. In this way, I have obeyed My Father’s teaching and live in His love. ¹¹ I have told you these things so My joy may be in you and your joy may be full.

The Christian with Other Christians

¹² “This is what I tell you to do: Love each other just as I have loved you. ¹³ No one can have greater love than to give his life for his friends. ¹⁴ You are My friends if you do what I tell you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants that I own anymore. A servant does not know what his owner is doing. I call you friends, because I have told you everything I have heard from My Father. ¹⁶ You have not chosen Me, I have chosen you. I have set you apart for the work of bringing in fruit. Your fruit should last. And whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give it to you.

The Christian and the World

¹⁷ “This is what I tell you to do: Love each other. ¹⁸ If the world hates you, you know it hated Me before it hated you. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. You do not belong to the world. I have chosen you out of the world and the world hates you. ²⁰ Remember I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his owner.’ If they made it very hard for Me, they will make it very hard for you also. If they obeyed My teachings, they will obey your teachings also. ²¹ They will do all these things to you because you belong to Me. They do not know My Father Who sent Me.

²² “I have come and have spoken to them so they are guilty of sin. But now they have no reason to give for keeping their sin any longer. ²³ Whoever hates Me, hates My Father also. ²⁴ I have done things among them which no one else has done so they are guilty of sin. But now they have seen these things and have hated Me and My Father. ²⁵ This happened as their Law said it would happen, ‘They hated Me without a reason.’

²⁶ “The Helper (Holy Spirit) will tell about Me when He comes. I will send Him to you from the Father. He is the Spirit of Truth and comes from the Father. ²⁷ You will also tell of Me because you have been with Me from the beginning.