M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
33 Manasseh was only twelve years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. 2 But it was an evil reign, for he encouraged his people to worship the idols of the heathen nations destroyed by the Lord when the people of Israel entered the land. 3 He rebuilt the heathen altars his father Hezekiah had destroyed—the altars of Baal, and of the shameful images, and of the sun, moon, and stars. 4-5 He even constructed heathen altars in both courts of the Temple of the Lord for worshiping the sun, moon, and stars—in the very place where the Lord had said that he would be honored forever. 6 And Manasseh sacrificed his own children as burnt offerings in the valley of Hinnom. He consulted spirit-mediums, too, and fortune-tellers and sorcerers, and encouraged every sort of evil, making the Lord very angry.
7 Think of it! He placed an idol in the very Temple of God, where God had told David and his son Solomon, “I will be honored here in this Temple and in Jerusalem—the city I have chosen to be honored forever above all the other cities of Israel. 8 And if you will only obey my commands—all the laws and instructions given to you by Moses—I won’t ever again exile Israel from this land which I gave your ancestors.”
9 But Manasseh encouraged the people of Judah and Jerusalem to do even more evil than the nations the Lord destroyed when Israel entered the land. 10 Warnings from the Lord were ignored by both Manasseh and his people. 11 So God sent the Assyrian armies, and they seized him with hooks and bound him with bronze chains and carted him away to Babylon. 12 Then at last he came to his senses and cried out humbly to God for help. 13 And the Lord listened and answered his plea by returning him to Jerusalem and to his kingdom! At that point Manasseh finally realized that the Lord was really God!
14 It was after this that he rebuilt the outer wall of the City of David and the wall from west of the spring of Gihon in the Kidron Valley, and then to the Fish Gate, and around Citadel Hill, where it was built very high. And he stationed his army generals in all of the fortified cities of Judah. 15 He also removed the foreign gods from the hills and took his idol from the Temple, and tore down the altars he had built on the mountain, where the Temple stood, and the altars that were in Jerusalem, and dumped them outside the city. 16 Then he rebuilt the altar of the Lord and offered sacrifices upon it—peace offerings and thanksgiving offerings—and demanded that the people of Judah worship the Lord God of Israel. 17 However, the people still sacrificed upon the altars on the hills, but only to the Lord their God.
18 The rest of Manasseh’s deeds, and his prayer to God, and God’s reply through the prophets—this is all written in The Annals of the Kings of Israel. 19 His prayer, and the way God answered, and a frank account of his sins and errors, including a list of the locations where he built idols on the hills and set up shameful and graven images (this of course was before the great change in his attitude), are recorded in The Annals of the Prophets.
20-21 When Manasseh died, he was buried beneath his own palace, and his son Amon became the new king. Amon was twenty-two years old when he began to reign in Jerusalem, but he lasted for only two years. 22 It was an evil reign like the early years of his father Manasseh; for Amon sacrificed to all the idols just as his father had. 23 But he didn’t change as his father did; instead he sinned more and more. 24 At last his own officers assassinated him in his palace. 25 But some public-spirited citizens killed all of those who assassinated him and declared his son Josiah to be the new king.
19 After this I heard the shouting of a vast crowd in heaven, “Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Salvation is from our God. Honor and authority belong to him alone; 2 for his judgments are just and true. He has punished the Great Prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sin;[a] and he has avenged the murder of his servants.”
3 Again and again their voices rang, “Praise the Lord! The smoke from her burning ascends forever and forever!”
4 Then the twenty-four Elders and four Living Beings fell down and worshiped God, who was sitting upon the throne, and said, “Amen! Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!”
5 And out of the throne came a voice that said, “Praise our God, all you his servants, small and great, who fear him.”
6 Then I heard again what sounded like the shouting of a huge crowd, or like the waves of a hundred oceans crashing on the shore, or like the mighty rolling of great thunder, “Praise the Lord. For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. 7 Let us be glad and rejoice and honor him; for the time has come for the wedding banquet of the Lamb, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She is permitted to wear the cleanest and whitest and finest of linens.” (Fine linen represents the good deeds done by the people of God.)
9 And the angel[b] dictated this sentence to me: “Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.” And he added, “God himself has stated this.”
10 Then I fell down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “No! Don’t! For I am a servant of God just as you are, and as your brother Christians are, who testify of their faith in Jesus. Worship God. The purpose of all prophecy and of all I have shown you is to tell about Jesus.”[c]
11 Then I saw heaven opened and a white horse standing there; and the one sitting on the horse was named Faithful and True—the one who justly punishes and makes war. 12 His eyes were like flames, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on his forehead,[d] and only he knew its meaning. 13 He was clothed with garments dipped in blood, and his title was “The Word of God.”[e] 14 The armies of heaven, dressed in finest linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses.
15 In his mouth he held a sharp sword to strike down the nations; he ruled them with an iron grip; and he trod the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. 16 On his robe and thigh was written this title: “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”
17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sunshine, shouting loudly to the birds, “Come! Gather together for the supper of the Great God! 18 Come and eat the flesh of kings, and captains, and great generals; of horses and riders; and of all humanity, both great and small, slave and free.”
19 Then I saw the Evil Creature gathering the governments of the earth and their armies to fight against the one sitting on the horse and his army. 20 And the Evil Creature was captured, and with him the False Prophet,[f] who could do mighty miracles when the Evil Creature was present—miracles that deceived all who had accepted the Evil Creature’s mark, and who worshiped his statue. Both of them—the Evil Creature and his False Prophet—were thrown alive into the Lake of Fire that burns with sulphur. 21 And their entire army was killed with the sharp sword in the mouth of the one riding the white horse, and all the birds of heaven were gorged with their flesh.
1 Here is the Lord’s message to Israel, given through the prophet Malachi:
2-3 “I have loved you very deeply,” says the Lord.
But you retort, “Really? When was this?”
And the Lord replies, “I showed my love for you by loving your father, Jacob. I didn’t need to. I even rejected his very own brother, Esau, and destroyed Esau’s mountains and inheritance, to give it to the jackals of the desert. 4 And if his descendants should say, ‘We will rebuild the ruins,’ then the Lord Almighty will say, ‘Try to if you like, but I will destroy it again,’ for their country is named ‘The Land of Wickedness,’ and their people are called ‘Those Whom God Does Not Forgive.’”
5 O Israel, lift your eyes to see what God is doing all around the world; then you will say, “Truly, the Lord’s great power goes far beyond our borders!”
6 “A son honors his father, a servant honors his master. I am your Father and Master, yet you don’t honor me, O priests, but you despise my name.”
“Who? Us?” you say. “When did we ever despise your name?”
7 “When you offer polluted sacrifices on my altar.”
“Polluted sacrifices? When have we ever done a thing like that?”
“Every time you say, ‘Don’t bother bringing anything very valuable to offer to God!’ 8 You tell the people, ‘Lame animals are all right to offer on the altar of the Lord—yes, even the sick and the blind ones.’ And you claim this isn’t evil? Try it on your governor sometime—give him gifts like that—and see how pleased he is!
9 “‘God have mercy on us,’ you recite; ‘God be gracious to us!’ But when you bring that kind of gift, why should he show you any favor at all?
10 “Oh, to find one priest among you who would shut the doors and refuse this kind of sacrifice! I have no pleasure in you,” says the Lord Almighty, “and I will not accept your offerings.
11 “But my name will be honored by the Gentiles from morning till night. All around the world they will offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name shall be great among the nations,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “But you dishonor it, saying that my altar is not important and encouraging people to bring cheap, sick animals to offer to me on it.
13 “You say, ‘Oh, it’s too difficult to serve the Lord and do what he asks.’ And you turn up your noses at the rules he has given you to obey. Think of it! Stolen animals, lame and sick—as offerings to God! Should I accept such offerings as these?” asks the Lord. 14 “Cursed is that man who promises a fine ram from his flock and substitutes a sick one to sacrifice to God. For I am a Great King,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be mightily revered among the Gentiles.”
18 After saying these things Jesus crossed the Kidron ravine with his disciples and entered a grove of olive trees. 2 Judas, the betrayer, knew this place, for Jesus had gone there many times with his disciples.
3 The chief priests and Pharisees had given Judas a squad of soldiers and police to accompany him. Now with blazing torches, lanterns, and weapons they arrived at the olive grove.
4-5 Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him. Stepping forward to meet them he asked, “Whom are you looking for?”
“Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied.
“I am he,” Jesus said. 6 And as he said it, they all fell backwards to the ground!
7 Once more he asked them, “Whom are you searching for?”
And again they replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.”
8 “I told you I am he,” Jesus said; “and since I am the one you are after, let these others go.” 9 He did this to carry out the prophecy he had just made, “I have not lost a single one of those you gave me. . . . ”
10 Then Simon Peter drew a sword and slashed off the right ear of Malchus, the High Priest’s servant.
11 But Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword away. Shall I not drink from the cup the Father has given me?”
12 So the Jewish police, with the soldiers and their lieutenant, arrested Jesus and tied him. 13 First they took him to Annas, the father-in-law of Caiaphas, the High Priest that year. 14 Caiaphas was the one who told the other Jewish leaders, “Better that one should die for all.”
15 Simon Peter followed along behind, as did another of the disciples who was acquainted with the High Priest. So that other disciple was permitted into the courtyard along with Jesus, 16 while Peter stood outside the gate. Then the other disciple spoke to the girl watching at the gate, and she let Peter in. 17 The girl asked Peter, “Aren’t you one of Jesus’ disciples?”
“No,” he said, “I am not!”
18 The police and the household servants were standing around a fire they had made, for it was cold. And Peter stood there with them, warming himself.
19 Inside, the High Priest began asking Jesus about his followers and what he had been teaching them.
20 Jesus replied, “What I teach is widely known, for I have preached regularly in the synagogue and Temple; I have been heard by all the Jewish leaders and teach nothing in private that I have not said in public. 21 Why are you asking me this question? Ask those who heard me. You have some of them here. They know what I said.”
22 One of the soldiers standing there struck Jesus with his fist. “Is that the way to answer the High Priest?” he demanded.
23 “If I lied, prove it,” Jesus replied. “Should you hit a man for telling the truth?”
24 Then Annas sent Jesus, bound, to Caiaphas the High Priest.
25 Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire, he was asked again, “Aren’t you one of his disciples?”
“Of course not,” he replied.
26 But one of the household slaves of the High Priest—a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off—asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?”
27 Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
28 Jesus’ trial before Caiaphas ended in the early hours of the morning. Next he was taken to the palace of the Roman governor. His accusers wouldn’t go in themselves for that would “defile” them,[a] they said, and they wouldn’t be allowed to eat the Passover lamb. 29 So Pilate, the governor, went out to them and asked, “What is your charge against this man? What are you accusing him of doing?”
30 “We wouldn’t have arrested him if he weren’t a criminal!” they retorted.
31 “Then take him away and judge him yourselves by your own laws,” Pilate told them.
“But we want him crucified,” they demanded, “and your approval is required.”[b] 32 This fulfilled Jesus’ prediction concerning the method of his execution.[c]
33 Then Pilate went back into the palace and called for Jesus to be brought to him. “Are you the King of the Jews?” he asked him.
34
35 “Am I a Jew?” Pilate retorted. “Your own people and their chief priests brought you here. Why? What have you done?”
36 Then Jesus answered, “I am not an earthly king. If I were, my followers would have fought when I was arrested by the Jewish leaders. But my Kingdom is not of the world.”
37 Pilate replied, “But you are a king then?”
“Yes,” Jesus said. “I was born for that purpose. And I came to bring truth to the world. All who love the truth are my followers.”
38 “What is truth?” Pilate exclaimed. Then he went out again to the people and told them, “He is not guilty of any crime. 39 But you have a custom of asking me to release someone from prison each year at Passover. So if you want me to, I’ll release the ‘King of the Jews.’”
40 But they screamed back. “No! Not this man, but Barabbas!” Barabbas was a robber.
The Living Bible copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.