M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Abijah, King of Judah

15 Abijah became the new king of Judah during the 18th year that Jeroboam son of Nebat ruled Israel. ² Abijah ruled in Jerusalem for three years. His mother’s name was Maacah. She was Absalom’s daughter.

³ He did all the same sins that his father before him had done. Abijah was not faithful to the Lord his God. In this way he was not like his grandfather, David. ⁴ But for David’s sake, the Lord gave Abijah a kingdom in Jerusalem and allowed him to have a son. He also kept Jerusalem safe. ⁵ David had always done what the Lord said was right. He had always obeyed his commands. The only time David did not obey the Lord was when he sinned against Uriah the Hittite.

⁶ Rehoboam and Jeroboam were always fighting against each other.^{[a] 7} The rest of what Abijah did is written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah.

There was war between Abijah and Jeroboam during the whole time that Abijah was king. ⁸ When Abijah died, he was buried in the City of David. Abijah’s son Asa became the new king after him.

Asa, King of Judah

⁹ During Jeroboam’s 20th year as king over Israel, Asa became king of Judah. ¹⁰ He ruled in Jerusalem for 41 years. His grandmother’s name was Maacah, and she was the daughter of Absalom.

¹¹ Asa did what the Lord said is right, as his ancestor David did. ¹² During Asa’s time there were men who served other gods by selling their bodies for sex. Asa forced them to leave the country. He took away the idols that his ancestors had made. ¹³ King Asa also took away the right of his mother Maacah to be queen mother. He did this because she had set up one of those awful Asherah poles. Asa cut down the pole and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴ Asa did not destroy the high places, even though he was faithful to the Lord all his life. ¹⁵ Asa and his father had given some special gifts to God. Asa put these gifts of gold, silver, and other things in the Lord’s Temple.

¹⁶ The whole time that King Asa was king of Judah, he fought a war against King Baasha of Israel. ¹⁷ Once Baasha attacked Judah and then built up the city of Ramah to keep Asa from leaving Judah on any kind of military campaign. ¹⁸ So Asa took gold and silver from the treasuries of the Lord’s Temple and the king’s palace. He gave it to his officials and sent them to King Ben-Hadad of Aram. Ben-Hadad was the son of Tabrimmon. Tabrimmon was the son of Hezion. Damascus was Ben-Hadad’s capital city. ¹⁹ Asa sent this message: “My father and your father had a peace agreement. Now I want to make a peace agreement with you. I am sending you this gift of gold and silver. Please break your treaty with King Baasha of Israel and make him leave us alone.”

²⁰ King Ben-Hadad made the agreement with King Asa and sent his army to fight against the Israelite towns of Ijon, Dan, Abel Beth Maacah, the towns near Lake Galilee, and the area of Naphtali. ²¹ When Baasha heard about these attacks, he stopped building up Ramah and went back to Tirzah. ²² Then King Asa gave an order to all the men in Judah. Everyone had to help. They had to go to Ramah and carry out all the stone and wood that Baasha was using to build up the city. They carried the material to Geba in Benjamin and to Mizpah and used it to strengthen those two cities.

²³ All the other things about Asa—the great things he did and the cities he built—are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Judah. When Asa became old, his feet became infected. ²⁴ He died and was buried in the City of David, his ancestor. Then Asa’s son Jehoshaphat became the new king after him.

Nadab, King of Israel

²⁵ During Asa’s second year as king of Judah, Jeroboam’s son Nadab became king of Israel. Nadab ruled over Israel for two years. ²⁶ He did what the Lord said was wrong. He sinned just as his father Jeroboam did when he caused the Israelites to sin.

²⁷ Baasha was the son of Ahijah. They were from the tribe of Issachar. Baasha made a plan to kill King Nadab. Nadab and all Israel were fighting against the Philistine town of Gibbethon. And that is where Baasha killed Nadab. ²⁸ This happened during Asa’s third year as king of Judah. So Baasha became the next king of Israel.

Baasha, King of Israel

²⁹ When Baasha became the new king, he killed everyone in Jeroboam’s family. He left no one in Jeroboam’s family alive. This happened just as the Lord said it would when he spoke through his servant Ahijah at Shiloh. ³⁰ This happened because King Jeroboam had committed many sins and had caused the Israelites to sin. This made the Lord, the God of Israel, very angry.

³¹ The other things that Nadab did are written in the book, The History of the Kings of Israel. ³² All during the time that Baasha ruled over Israel, he was fighting wars against King Asa of Judah.

³³ Ahijah’s son Baasha became king of Israel during the third year that Asa ruled over Judah. Baasha ruled in Tirzah for 24 years, ³⁴ but he did what the Lord said was wrong. He did the same sins that Jeroboam had done that caused the Israelites to sin.

2 I want you to know that I am trying very hard to help you. And I am trying to help those in Laodicea and others who have never seen me. ² I want them to be strengthened and joined together with love and to have the full confidence that comes from understanding. I want them to know completely the secret truth that God has made known. That truth is Christ himself. ³ In him all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are kept safe.

⁴ I tell you this so that no one can fool you by telling you ideas that seem good, but are false. ⁵ Even though I am far away, my thoughts are always with you. I am happy to see your good lives and your strong faith in Christ.

Continue to Follow Christ Jesus

⁶ You accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, so continue to live following him. ⁷ You must depend on Christ only, drawing life and strength from him. Just as you were taught the truth, continue to grow stronger in your understanding of it. And never stop giving thanks to God.

⁸ Be sure you are not led away by the teaching of those who have nothing worth saying and only plan to deceive you. That teaching is not from Christ. It is only human tradition and comes from the powers that influence^[a] this world. ⁹ I say this because all of God lives in Christ fully, even in his life on earth. ¹⁰ And because you belong to Christ you are complete, having everything you need. Christ is ruler over every other power and authority.

¹¹ In Christ you had a different kind of circumcision, one that was not done by human hands. That is, you were made free from the power of your sinful self. That is the kind of circumcision Christ does. ¹² When you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and you were raised up with him because of your faith in God’s power. God’s power was shown when he raised Christ from death.

¹³ You were spiritually dead because of your sins and because you were not free from the power of your sinful self. But God gave you new life together with Christ. He forgave all our sins. ¹⁴ Because we broke God’s laws, we owed a debt—a debt that listed all the rules we failed to follow. But God forgave us of that debt. He took it away and nailed it to the cross. ¹⁵ He defeated the rulers and powers of the spiritual world. With the cross he won the victory over them and led them away, as defeated and powerless prisoners for the whole world to see.

Don’t Follow Rules That People Make

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone make rules for you about eating and drinking or about Jewish customs (festivals, New Moon celebrations, or Sabbath days). ¹⁷ In the past these things were like a shadow that showed what was coming. But the new things that were coming are found in Christ. ¹⁸ Some people enjoy acting as if they are humble and love to worship angels.^[b] They always talk about the visions they have seen. Don’t listen to them when they say you are wrong because you don’t do these things. It is so foolish for them to feel such pride, because it is all based on their own human ideas. ¹⁹ They don’t keep themselves under the control of the head. Christ is the head, and the whole body depends on him. Because of Christ all the parts of the body care for each other and help each other. So the body is made stronger and held together as God causes it to grow.

²⁰ You died with Christ and were made free from the powers that influence this world. So why do you act as if you still belong to the world? I mean, why do you follow rules like these: ²¹ “Don’t eat this,” “Don’t taste that,” “Don’t touch that”? ²² These rules are talking about earthly things that are gone after they are used. They are only human commands and teachings. ²³ These rules may seem to be wise as part of a made-up religion in which people pretend to be humble and punish their bodies. But they don’t help people stop doing the evil that the sinful self wants to do.

The Division of the Land for Holy Use

45 “You will divide the land for the Israelite tribes by throwing lots. At that time you will separate out a part of the land. It will be a holy part for the Lord. The land will be 25,000 cubits^[a] long and 20,000 cubits^[b] wide.^[c] All this land will be holy. ² A square area that is 500 cubits^[d] long on each side will be for the Temple. There will be an open space around the Temple that is 50 cubits^[e] wide. ³ In the holy area you will measure 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits^[f] wide. The Temple will be in this area. The Temple area will be the Most Holy Place.

⁴ “This holy part of the land will be for the priests, the servants of the Temple. This is where they approach the Lord to serve him. It will be a place for the priests’ houses and a place for the Temple. ⁵ Another area, 25,000 cubits long and 10,000 cubits wide, will be for the Levites who serve in the Temple. This land will also become cities for the Levites.

⁶ “And you will give the city an area that is 5000 cubits^[g] wide and 25,000 cubits long. It will be along the side of the holy area. It will be for all the family of Israel. ⁷ The ruler will have land on both sides of the holy area and the land belonging to the city. It will be next to the holy area and the area belonging to the city. It will be the same width as the land that belongs to a tribe. It will go all the way from the west border to the east border. ⁸ This land will be the ruler’s property in Israel. So he will not need to make life hard for my people anymore. But they will give the land to the Israelites for their tribes.”

⁹ This is what the Lord God said: “Enough, you rulers of Israel! Stop being cruel and stealing things from people! Be fair and do what is right! Stop forcing my people out from their homes!” This is what the Lord God said.

¹⁰ “Stop cheating people. Use accurate scales and measures! ¹¹ The ephah and the bath must be the same size: A bath and an ephah must both equal 1/10 homer.^[h] Those measures will be based on the homer. ¹² A shekel^[i] must equal 20 gerahs. A mina must equal 60 shekels. It must be equal to 20 shekels plus 25 shekels plus 15 shekels.

¹³ “This is a special offering that you must give:

“Those special offerings are for the grain offerings, for the burnt offerings, and for the fellowship offerings. These offerings are to remove the sins of the people.” This is what the Lord God said.

¹⁶ “Everyone in the country will give to this offering for the ruler of Israel. ¹⁷ But the ruler must give the things needed for the special holy days. The ruler must provide the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the drink offerings for the feast days, for the New Moon, for the Sabbaths, and for all the other special meeting days of the family of Israel. He must give all the sin offerings, grain offerings, burnt offerings, and fellowship offerings that are used to make the family of Israel pure.”

¹⁸ This is what the Lord God says: “In the first month, on the first day of the month, you will take a young bull that has nothing wrong with it. You must use that bull to make the Temple pure. ¹⁹ The priest will take some of the blood from the sin offering and put it on the doorposts of the Temple and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the posts of the gate to the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You will do the same thing on the seventh day of that month for anyone who has sinned by mistake or without knowing it. So you will make the Temple pure.

Offerings During the Passover

²¹ “On the 14th day of the first month, you must celebrate the Passover. The Festival of Unleavened Bread begins at this time. It continues for seven days. ²² At that time the ruler will offer a bull for himself and for all the people of Israel. The bull will be for a sin offering. ²³ During the seven days of the festival, the ruler will offer seven bulls and seven rams that have nothing wrong with them. They will be burnt offerings to the Lord. The ruler will offer one bull on every day of the seven days of the festival, and he will offer a male goat every day for a sin offering. ²⁴ The ruler will give an ephah^[m] of barley as a grain offering with each bull, and an ephah of barley with each ram. He must give a hin^[n] of oil for each ephah of grain. ²⁵ He must do the same thing for the seven days of the Festival of Shelters. This festival begins on the 15th day of the seventh month. These offerings will be the sin offering, the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the oil offering.”

A song of thanks.

A song of David.