M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 16
Reign of Ahaz of Judah.[a] 1 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 sixteen years in Jerusalem.
He did not do what was right in the sight of the Lord his God, as David his father had done. 3 He walked in the way of the kings of Israel; he even immolated his child by fire, in accordance with the abominable practices of the nations whom the Lord had dispossessed before the Israelites.(A) 4 Further, he sacrificed and burned incense on the high places, on hills, and under every green tree.(B)
5 Then Rezin, king of Aram, and Pekah, son of Remaliah, king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem to attack it. Although they besieged Ahaz, they were unable to do battle. 6 (In those days Rezin, king of Aram, recovered Elath for Aram, and drove the Judahites out of it. The Edomites then entered Elath, which they have occupied until the present.)
7 Meanwhile, Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria, with the plea: “I am your servant and your son. Come up and rescue me from the power of the king of Aram and the king of Israel, who are attacking me.” 8 Ahaz took the silver and gold that were in the house of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s house and sent them as a present to the king of Assyria. 9 The king of Assyria listened to him and moved against Damascus, captured it, deported its inhabitants to Kir, and put Rezin to death.
10 King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Tiglath-pileser, king of Assyria. When he saw the altar in Damascus, King Ahaz sent to Uriah the priest a model of the altar and a detailed design of its construction. 11 Uriah the priest built an altar according to the plans which King Ahaz sent him from Damascus, and had it completed by the time King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 On his arrival from Damascus, the king inspected the altar; the king approached the altar, went up 13 and sacrificed his burnt offering and grain offering, pouring out his libation, and sprinkling the blood of his communion offerings on the altar. 14 The bronze altar that stood before the Lord he brought from the front of the temple—that is, from the space between the new altar and the house of the Lord—and set it on the north side of his altar. 15 (C)King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Upon the large altar sacrifice the morning burnt offering and the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering and grain offering, and the burnt offering and grain offering of the people of the land.[b] Their libations you must sprinkle on it along with all the blood of burnt offerings and sacrifices. But the old bronze altar shall be mine for consultation.” 16 Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had commanded. 17 King Ahaz detached the panels from the stands and removed the basins from them; he also took down the bronze sea from the bronze oxen that supported it, and set it on a stone pavement. 18 In deference to the king of Assyria he removed the sabbath canopy that had been set up in the house of the Lord and the king’s outside entrance[c] to the temple.
19 The rest of the acts of Ahaz, with what he did, are recorded in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah. 20 Ahaz rested with his ancestors; he was buried with his ancestors in the City of David, and his son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.
III. Teaching the Christian Life
Chapter 2
Christian Behavior.[a] 1 As for yourself, you must say what is consistent with sound doctrine, namely,(A) 2 that older men should be temperate, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, love, and endurance. 3 Similarly, older women should be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not addicted to drink, teaching what is good, 4 so that they may train younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, chaste, good homemakers, under the control of their husbands, so that the word of God may not be discredited.(B)
6 Urge the younger men, similarly, to control themselves, 7 showing yourself as a model of good deeds in every respect, with integrity in your teaching, dignity, 8 and sound speech that cannot be criticized, so that the opponent will be put to shame without anything bad to say about us.
9 Slaves are to be under the control of their masters in all respects, giving them satisfaction, not talking back to them(C) 10 or stealing from them, but exhibiting complete good faith, so as to adorn the doctrine of God our savior in every way.(D)
Transformation of Life. 11 [b]For the grace of God has appeared, saving all(E) 12 and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, 13 as we await the blessed hope, the appearance[c] of the glory of the great God and of our savior Jesus Christ,(F) 14 who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.(G)
15 Say these things. Exhort and correct with all authority. Let no one look down on you.(H)
Chapter 9
From Days of Celebration to Days of Punishment
1 Do not rejoice, Israel,
do not exult like the nations!
For you have prostituted yourself, abandoning your God,
loving a prostitute’s fee
upon every threshing floor.[a]
2 Threshing floor and wine press will not nourish them,
the new wine will fail them.
3 They will not dwell in the Lord’s land;
Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and in Assyria they will eat unclean food.
4 They will not pour libations of wine to the Lord,
and their sacrifices will not please him.
Their bread will be like mourners’ bread,[b](A)
that makes unclean all who eat of it;
Their food will be for their own appetites;
it cannot enter the house of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the festival day,
the day of the Lord’s feast?[c]
6 [d]When they flee from the devastation,
Egypt will gather them, Memphis will bury them.
Weeds will overgrow their silver treasures,
and thorns, their tents.
7 They have come, the days of punishment!
they have come, the days of recompense!
Let Israel know it!
“The prophet is a fool,(B)
the man of the spirit is mad!”
Because your iniquity is great,
great, too, is your hostility.
8 [e]The watchman of Ephraim, the people of my God, is the prophet;(C)
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
hostility in the house of his God.
9 They have sunk to the depths of corruption,
as in the days of Gibeah;[f](D)
God will remember their iniquity
and punish their sins.
From Former Glory to a History of Corruption
10 Like grapes in the desert,
I found Israel;
Like the first fruits of the fig tree, its first to ripen,(E)
I looked on your ancestors.
But when they came to Baal-peor[g](F)
and consecrated themselves to the Shameful One,
they became as abhorrent as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim is like a bird:
their glory flies away—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception.(G)
12 Even though they bring up their children,
I will make them childless, until no one is left.
Indeed, woe to them
when I turn away from them!
13 Ephraim, as I saw, was a tree
planted in a meadow;
But now Ephraim will bring out
his children to the slaughterer!
14 Give them, Lord!
give them what?
Give them a miscarrying womb,
and dry breasts!(H)
15 All their misfortune began in Gilgal;[h]
yes, there I rejected them.
Because of their wicked deeds
I will drive them out of my house.
I will love them no longer;
all their princes are rebels.
16 [i]Ephraim is stricken,
their root is dried up;(I)
they will bear no fruit.(J)
Were they to bear children,
I would slay the beloved of their womb.
17 My God will disown them
because they have not listened to him;
they will be wanderers among the nations.(K)
Psalm 126[a]
The Reversal of Zion’s Fortunes
1 A song of ascents.
I
When the Lord restored the captives of Zion,(A)
we thought we were dreaming.
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter;
our tongues sang for joy.(B)
Then it was said among the nations,
“The Lord had done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us;
Oh, how happy we were!
4 Restore our captives, Lord,
like the dry stream beds of the Negeb.[b]
II
5 Those who sow in tears
will reap with cries of joy.(C)
6 Those who go forth weeping,
carrying sacks of seed,
Will return with cries of joy,
carrying their bundled sheaves.
Psalm 127[c]
The Need of God’s Blessing
1 A song of ascents. Of Solomon.
I
Unless the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain who build.
Unless the Lord guard the city,
in vain does the guard keep watch.
2 It is vain for you to rise early
and put off your rest at night,
To eat bread earned by hard toil—
all this God gives to his beloved in sleep.(D)
II
3 Certainly sons are a gift from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb, a reward.(E)
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons born in one’s youth.
5 Blessed is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
He will never be shamed
for he will destroy his foes at the gate.[d]
Psalm 128[e]
The Blessed Home of the Just
1 A song of ascents.
I
Blessed are all who fear the Lord,
and who walk in his ways.(F)
2 What your hands provide you will enjoy;
you will be blessed and prosper:(G)
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your home,
Your children like young olive plants
around your table.(H)
4 Just so will the man be blessed
who fears the Lord.
II
Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.