M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ahaz, King of Judah(A)
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he reigned for sixteen years in Jerusalem. He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God like David his father. 3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel and even made his son pass through the fire according to the abominations of the nations whom the Lord dispossessed before the children of Israel. 4 He sacrificed and made offerings on the high places, on the hills, and under every green tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to battle, and they besieged Ahaz but could not subdue him. 6 At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered Elath for Aram and expelled the Judeans from Elath. The Edomites came to Elath and live there to this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come up and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who are rising up against me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and gold that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king’s house, and sent a present to the king of Assyria. 9 So the king of Assyria listened to him. The king of Assyria went up to Damascus, captured it, exiled the people to Kir, and killed Rezin.
10 Then King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-Pileser king of Assyria and saw an altar that was in Damascus. King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a pattern of the altar and model of it, according to the manner of its construction. 11 Uriah the priest built an altar according to all that King Ahaz had sent from Damascus. Thus Uriah the priest worked until King Ahaz came from Damascus. 12 When the king came back from Damascus and saw the altar, the king approached the altar and made offerings on it. 13 He offered his burnt offering and his grain offering, poured out his libations, and sprinkled the blood of his peace offerings upon the altar. 14 And the bronze altar that was before the Lord he moved from the front of the house, from between the altar and the house of the Lord. He put it on the north side of the new altar.
15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Upon the great altar offer the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, and his grain offering with the burnt offering of all the people of the land, their grain offering, and their libations. Sprinkle on it all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifice, and the bronze altar will be for me to inquire by.” 16 So Uriah the priest did everything that King Ahaz commanded.
17 King Ahaz cut off the bases of the stands and removed the basin from them. He took down the sea from off the bronze oxen that were under it and put it on stone pavement. 18 The structure for the Sabbath that they had built in the house and the king’s outer entrance he removed from the house of the Lord for the king of Assyria.
19 Now the rest of the deeds of Ahaz that he did, are they not written in the book of the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz slept with his fathers and was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then Hezekiah his son reigned in his place.
The Teaching of Sound Doctrine
2 But as for you, teach what is fitting of sound doctrine: 2 Older men should be sober, serious, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience.
3 Likewise, older women should be reverent in behavior, and not be false accusers, not be enslaved to much wine, but teachers of good things, 4 that they may teach the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 and to be self-controlled, pure, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be dishonored.
6 Likewise, exhort young men to be self-controlled, 7 in all things presenting yourself as an example of good works: in doctrine showing integrity, gravity, incorruptibility, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that the one who opposes you may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.
9 Exhort servants to be obedient to their own masters, to please them well in everything, not answering back, 10 or stealing, but showing complete fidelity, so that they may exemplify the doctrine of God our Savior in all things.
11 For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly desires, we should live soberly, righteously, and in godliness in this present world, 13 as we await the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from all lawlessness and purify for Himself a special people, zealous of good works.
15 Teach these things, exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no one despise you.
The Punishment of Israel
9 Do not rejoice, O Israel!
Do not exult[a] like the peoples,
for you have played the whore departing from your God.
You have loved a prostitute’s wages
on every threshing floor.
2 The threshing floor and the winepress will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail in her.
3 They will not dwell in the land of the Lord;
but Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean things in Assyria.
4 They will not offer wine offerings to the Lord,
and their sacrifices will not please Him.
Their sacrifices will be like the bread of mourners;
all who eat of it will be defiled.
For their bread will be only to satisfy their own hunger;
it will not come into the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the appointed day,
and on the day of the festival of the Lord?
6 For indeed they are gone because of destruction.
Egypt will gather them,
and Memphis will bury them.
Nettles will possess their pleasant things of silver,
and thorns will be in their tents.
7 The days of punishment have come;
the days of recompense have come.
Israel knows!
The prophet is a fool;
the man of the spirit is insane,
because of your great iniquity and great hatred.
8 The watchman of Ephraim is a prophet
for my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
and hatred in the house of his God.
9 They have deeply corrupted themselves
as in the days of Gibeah.
He will remember their iniquity,
He will punish their sins.
10 Like grapes in the wilderness,
I found Israel.
Like the first fruit on the fig tree in its first season,
I saw your fathers.
But they went to Baal Peor
and consecrated themselves to a thing of shame,
and they became an abomination like the thing they loved.
11 As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird:
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Though they bring up their children,
I will bereave them until none are left.
Woe to them indeed,
when I depart from them!
13 Just as I saw Ephraim like Tyre,
planted in a pleasant place,
so now Ephraim will bring out
his children for slaughter.
14 Give them, O Lord—
what will You give?
Give them a miscarrying womb
and dry breasts.
15 All their wickedness is in Gilgal,
for there I hated them.
Because of the wickedness of their deeds,
I will drive them out of My house.
I will love them no more.
All their princes are rebels.
16 Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up,
they shall bear no fruit.
Even though they give birth,
I will slay the beloved offspring of their womb.
17 My God will reject them
because they did not listen to Him,
and they will be wanderers among the nations.
Psalm 126
A Song of Ascents.
1 When the Lord restored the captives of Zion,
we were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
and our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
we are glad.
4 Restore our captives, O Lord,
as the streams in the Negev.
5 Those who sow in tears
shall reap in joy.
6 He who goes forth and weeps,
bearing precious seed to sow,
shall come home again with rejoicing,
bringing his grain sheaves with him.
Psalm 127
A Song of Ascents. Of Solomon.
1 Except the Lord build the house,
those who build labor in vain;
except the Lord guards the city,
the watchman stays awake in vain.
2 It is in vain for you to rise up early,
to stay up late,
and to eat the bread of hard toil,
for He gives sleep to His beloved.
3 Look, children are a gift of the Lord,
and the fruit of the womb is a reward.
4 As arrows in the hand of a mighty warrior,
so are the children of one’s youth.
5 Happy is the man
who has his quiver full of them;
he shall not be ashamed
when he speaks with the enemies at the gate.
Psalm 128
A Song of Ascents.
1 Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
who walks in His ways.
2 For you shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands;
you will be happy, and it shall be well with you.
3 Your wife shall be as a fruitful vine
in your house,
your children like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Behold, this man shall be blessed
who fears the Lord.
5 The Lord shall bless you from Zion,
and may you see the welfare of Jerusalem
all the days of your life.
6 Indeed, may you see your children’s children.
Peace upon Israel!
The Holy Bible, Modern English Version. Copyright © 2014 by Military Bible Association. Published and distributed by Charisma House.