M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Abijam rules Judah

15 Abijam^[a] became king of Judah in the eighteenth year of King Jeroboam, Nebat’s son. ² He ruled for three years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Maacah, and she was Abishalom’s daughter. ³ Abijam followed all the sinful ways of his father before him. He didn’t follow the Lord his God with all his heart like his ancestor David. ⁴ Even so, on account of David, the Lord his God gave Abijam a lamp in Jerusalem by supporting his son who succeeded him and by preserving Jerusalem. ⁵ This was because David did the right thing in the Lord’s eyes. David didn’t deviate from anything the Lord commanded him throughout his life—except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. ⁶ There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam as long as Abijam lived. ⁷ The rest of Abijam’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? There was war between Abijam and Jeroboam. ⁸ Abijam lay down with his ancestors; he was buried in David’s City. His son Asa succeeded him as king.

Asa rules Judah

⁹ In the twentieth year of Israel’s King Jeroboam, Asa became king of Judah. ¹⁰ He ruled in Jerusalem for forty-one years. His grandmother’s^[b] name was Maacah; she was Abishalom’s daughter. ¹¹ Asa did the right things in the Lord’s eyes, just like his father David. ¹² He removed the consecrated workers^[c] from the land, and he did away with all the worthless idols that his predecessors had made. ¹³ He even removed his grandmother Maacah from the position of queen mother because she had made an image of Asherah. Asa cut down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. ¹⁴ Though the shrines weren’t eliminated, nevertheless Asa remained committed with all his heart to the Lord throughout his life. ¹⁵ He brought into the Lord’s temple the silver and gold equipment that he and his father had dedicated. ¹⁶ There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes. ¹⁷ Israel’s King Baasha attacked Judah and fortified Ramah to prevent Judah’s King Asa from moving into that area.

¹⁸ Asa took all the silver and gold that remained in the treasuries of the Lord’s temple and the royal palace, and he gave them to his officials. Then King Asa sent them with the following message to Aram’s King Ben-hadad, Tabrimmon’s son and Hezion’s grandson, who ruled from Damascus: ¹⁹ “Let’s make a covenant similar to the one between our fathers. Since I have already sent you a gift of silver and gold, break your covenant with Israel’s King Baasha so that he will leave me alone.” ²⁰ Ben-hadad agreed with King Asa and sent his army commanders against the cities of Israel, attacking Ijon, Dan, Abel-beth-maacah, and all Chinneroth, along with all the land of Naphtali. ²¹ As soon as Baasha learned this, he stopped building Ramah and stayed in Tirzah. ²² King Asa issued an order to every Judean without exception: all the people carried away the stone and timber that Baasha was using to build Ramah, and King Asa used it to build Geba of Benjamin and Mizpah. ²³ The rest of Asa’s deeds, his strength, and all that he did, as well as the towns that he built, aren’t they written in the official records of Judah’s kings? When he was old, Asa developed a severe foot disease. ²⁴ He died and was buried with his ancestors in David’s City.^[d] His son Jehoshaphat succeeded him as king.

Nadab rules Israel

²⁵ Jeroboam’s son Nadab became king of Israel in the second year of Judah’s King Asa. He ruled over Israel for two years. ²⁶ He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in the way of his father Jeroboam and the sin Jeroboam had caused Israel to commit. ²⁷ Baasha, Ahijah’s son from the house of Issachar, plotted against him and attacked him at Gibbethon, which belonged to the Philistines. Nadab and all Israel were laying siege against Gibbethon. ²⁸ Baasha killed Nadab in the third year of Judah’s King Asa and ruled in Nadab’s place.

²⁹ When he became king, Baasha attacked the entire house of Jeroboam. He didn’t allow any living person to survive in Jeroboam’s family; he wiped them out according to the Lord’s word spoken by the Lord’s servant Ahijah of Shiloh. ³⁰ This happened because of Jeroboam’s sins that he committed and that he caused Israel to commit, and because he angered the Lord, Israel’s God. ³¹ The rest of Nadab’s deeds and all that he did, aren’t they written in the official records of Israel’s kings? ³² There was war between Asa and Israel’s King Baasha throughout their lifetimes.

Baasha rules Israel

³³ In the third year of Judah’s King Asa, Baasha, Ahijah’s son, became king over all Israel. He ruled in Tirzah for twenty-four years. ³⁴ He did evil in the Lord’s eyes by walking in Jeroboam’s ways and the sin he had caused Israel to commit.

2 I want you to know how much I struggle for you, for those in Laodicea, and for all who haven’t known me personally. ² My goal is that their hearts would be encouraged and united together in love so that they might have all the riches of assurance that come with understanding, so that they might have the knowledge of the secret plan^[a] of God, namely Christ. ³ All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him. ⁴ I’m telling you this so that no one deceives you with convincing arguments, ⁵ because even though I am absent physically, I’m with you in spirit. I’m happy to see the discipline and stability of your faith in Christ.

Error threatening the church

⁶ So live in Christ Jesus the Lord in the same way as you received him. ⁷ Be rooted and built up in him, be established in faith, and overflow with thanksgiving just as you were taught. ⁸ See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ. ⁹ All the fullness of deity lives in Christ’s body. ¹⁰ And you have been filled by him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹ In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not administered by human hands. The circumcision of Christ is realized in the stripping away of the whole self dominated by sin. ¹² You were buried with him through baptism and raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³ When you were dead because of the things you had done wrong and because your body wasn’t circumcised, God made you alive with Christ and forgave all the things you had done wrong. ¹⁴ He destroyed the record of the debt we owed, with its requirements that worked against us. He canceled it by nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵ When he disarmed the rulers and authorities, he exposed them to public disgrace by leading them in a triumphal parade.

¹⁶ So don’t let anyone judge you about eating or drinking or about a festival, a new moon observance, or sabbaths. ¹⁷ These religious practices are only a shadow of what was coming—the body that cast the shadow is Christ. ¹⁸ Don’t let anyone who wants to practice harsh self-denial and worship angels rob you of the prize. They go into detail about what they have seen in visions and have become unjustifiably arrogant by their selfish way of thinking. ¹⁹ They don’t stay connected to the head. The head nourishes and supports the whole body through the joints and ligaments, so the body grows with a growth that is from God.

²⁰ If you died with Christ to the way the world thinks and acts, why do you submit to rules and regulations as though you were living in the world? ²¹ “Don’t handle!” “Don’t taste!” “Don’t touch!” ²² All these things cease to exist when they are used. Such rules are human commandments and teachings. ²³ They look like they are wise with this self-made religion and their self-denial by the harsh treatment of the body, but they are no help against indulging in selfish immoral behavior.

The holy portion

45 When you distribute the land as an inheritance, you will set aside a holy portion of land for the Lord. It will be 7.1 miles long and 5.68 miles^[a] wide. It will be holy throughout the entire area. ² Out of this portion, an area seven hundred fifty feet by seven hundred fifty feet square will be for the sanctuary. All around it will be an open space seventy-five feet wide. ³ Beginning with this measurement, you will measure out an area 7.1 miles long and 2.84 miles wide. The sanctuary, the most holy place, will lie on it. ⁴ It is holy, set apart from the land, and it belongs to the priests who draw near to minister in the Lord’s sanctuary. It will be a place for their houses, and a holy place for the sanctuary. ⁵ The area 7.1 miles long and 2.84 miles wide will be for the Levites who minister in the temple. Twenty chambers are theirs as their property. ⁶ As the property for the city, you will set aside an area 1.42 miles wide and 7.1 miles long next to the holy portion. It will be for the whole house of Israel. ⁷ The territory for the prince will be on both sides of the holy portion and the city property, alongside the holy portion and alongside the city property, from their western boundaries westward and from their eastern boundaries eastward. Its length will equal one tribal portion, from the western border to the eastern border. ⁸ The land will be his property in Israel, and my princes will no longer oppress my people. They will give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

⁹ The Lord God proclaims: Enough, princes of Israel! Turn aside from violence and oppression. Establish justice and righteousness. Cease your evictions of my people! This is what the Lord God says: ¹⁰ You must use fair scales, a fair ephah,^[b] and a fair bath.^{[c] 11} The ephah and the bath must be the same size. Both should be calibrated to the homer: each will contain one-tenth of a homer. ¹² The shekel must weigh twenty gerahs. Twenty shekels, twenty-five shekels, and fifteen shekels will equal one maneh for you.

Sacrificial offerings and gifts

¹³ These are your prescribed contributions: one-sixth of an ephah for each homer of wheat, and one-sixth of an ephah for each homer of barley; ¹⁴ a regular amount of oil,^[d] one-tenth of a bath for each kor^[e] (each kor^[f] contains ten baths); ¹⁵ and one sheep from the flock for every two hundred from Israel’s pastureland, for grain offerings, for entirely burned offerings, and for well-being sacrifices to make reconciliation for them. This is what the Lord God says. ¹⁶ All the people will make this contribution on behalf of the prince in Israel. ¹⁷ The prince will be responsible for the entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings for the festivals, new moons, and sabbaths, all the appointed festivals of the house of Israel. He will offer the purification offering, the grain offering, the entirely burned offering, and the well-being sacrifice to make reconciliation on behalf of the house of Israel.

Festivals

¹⁸ The Lord God proclaims: On the first day of the first month,^[g] you will take a flawless young bull from the herd, and you will purify the sanctuary. ¹⁹ The priest will take some of the blood from the purification offering, and he will set it on the doorposts of the temple and on the four corners of the ledge of the altar and on the doorposts of the gate to the inner courtyard. ²⁰ You will do the same on the seventh day of the month for anyone who sins through inadvertence or ignorance. So you will purge the temple. ²¹ Your Passover will be on the fourteenth day of the first month. Unleavened bread will be eaten during the seven days of the festival. ²² On that day, the prince will provide a young bull as the purification offering for himself and for the people of the land. ²³ For the seven days of the festival, he will provide seven flawless bulls and seven flawless rams, one for each day of the festival, as the entirely burned offering for the Lord, and, for the purification offering, one male goat for each day. ²⁴ He will also provide the grain offerings, one ephah^[h] for each bull, and one ephah for each ram, with one hin^[i] of oil for each ephah. ²⁵ For the festival that begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month,^[j] he will make the same provisions for the purification offerings, entirely burned offerings, grain offerings, and oil, for all seven days of the festival.

Psalm 99

Psalm 100

A psalm of thanks.

Psalm 101

Of David. A psalm.