M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Chapter 29
Hezekiah’s Reforms. 1 (A)Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah, daughter of Zechariah. 2 He did what was right in the Lord’s sight, just as David his father had done. 3 In the first month of the first year of his reign, he opened the doors of the Lord’s house and repaired them.(B) 4 He summoned the priests and Levites, gathering them in the open space to the east, 5 and said to them: “Listen to me, you Levites! Sanctify yourselves now and sanctify the house of the Lord, the God of your ancestors, and clean out the filth from the sanctuary. 6 Our ancestors acted treacherously and did what was evil in the eyes of the Lord, our God. They abandoned him, turned away their faces from the Lord’s dwelling, and turned their backs on him. 7 They also closed the doors of the vestibule, extinguished the lamps, and failed to burn incense and sacrifice burnt offerings in the sanctuary to the God of Israel.(C) 8 (D)Therefore the anger of the Lord has come upon Judah and Jerusalem; he has made them an object of terror, horror, and hissing, as you see with your own eyes. 9 For our ancestors fell by the sword, and our sons, our daughters, and our wives have been taken captive because of this. 10 Now, I intend to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, that his burning anger may turn away from us. 11 My sons, do not be negligent any longer, for it is you whom the Lord has chosen to stand before him, to minister to him, to be his ministers and to offer incense.”
12 Then the Levites arose: Mahath, son of Amasai, and Joel, son of Azariah, of the Kohathites; of the descendants of Merari: Kish, son of Abdi, and Azariah, son of Jehallel; of the Gershonites: Joah, son of Zimmah, and Eden, son of Joah; 13 of the sons of Elizaphan: Shimri and Jeuel; of the sons of Asaph: Zechariah and Mattaniah; 14 of the sons of Heman: Jehuel and Shimei; of the sons of Jeduthun: Shemiah and Uzziel. 15 They gathered their kinfolk together and sanctified themselves; then they came as the king had ordered, in keeping with the words of the Lord, to cleanse the Lord’s house.
16 The priests entered the interior of the Lord’s house to cleanse it. Whatever they found in the Lord’s temple that was unclean they brought out to the court of the Lord’s house, where the Levites took it from them and carried it out to the Wadi Kidron. 17 They began the work of consecration on the first day of the first month, and on the eighth day of the month they reached the vestibule of the Lord; they consecrated the Lord’s house over an eight-day period, and on the sixteenth day of the first month, they had finished.
18 Then they went inside to King Hezekiah and said: “We have cleansed the entire house of the Lord, the altar for burnt offerings with all its utensils, and the table for the showbread with all its utensils. 19 We have restored and consecrated all the articles which King Ahaz had thrown away during his reign because of his treachery; they are now before the Lord’s altar.”
The Rite of Expiation. 20 Then King Hezekiah hastened to convoke the princes of the city and went up to the Lord’s house. 21 Seven bulls, seven rams, seven lambs, and seven he-goats were presented as a purification offering for the kingdom, for the sanctuary, and for Judah. Hezekiah ordered the sons of Aaron, the priests, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. 22 They slaughtered the bulls, and the priests collected the blood and splashed it on the altar. Then they slaughtered the rams and splashed the blood on the altar; then they slaughtered the lambs and splashed the blood on the altar. 23 Then the he-goats for the purification offering were led before the king and the assembly, who laid their hands upon them. 24 The priests then slaughtered them and offered their blood on the altar to atone for the sin of all Israel. For the king had said, “The burnt offering and the purification offering are for all Israel.”
25 He stationed the Levites in the Lord’s house with cymbals, harps, and lyres, according to the command of David, of Gad the king’s seer, and of Nathan the prophet; for this command was from the Lord through his prophets. 26 The Levites were stationed with the instruments of David, and the priests with the trumpets. 27 Then Hezekiah ordered the burnt offering to be sacrificed on the altar. At the very moment the burnt offering began, they also began the song of the Lord, to the accompaniment of the trumpets and the instruments of David, king of Israel. 28 The entire assembly bowed down, and the song was sung and the trumpets sounded until the burnt offering had been completed. 29 Once the burnt offering was completed, the king and all who were with him knelt and worshiped. 30 King Hezekiah and the princes then told the Levites to sing the praises of the Lord in the words of David and of Asaph the seer. They sang praises till their joy was full, then fell down and worshiped.
31 Hezekiah then said: “You have dedicated yourselves to the Lord. Approach, and bring forward the sacrifices and thank offerings for the house of the Lord.” Then the assembly brought forward the sacrifices and thank offerings and all their voluntary burnt offerings. 32 The number of burnt offerings that the assembly brought forward was seventy oxen, one hundred rams, and two hundred lambs: all of these as a burnt offering to the Lord. 33 As consecrated gifts there were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep. 34 Since there were too few priests to skin all the victims for the burnt offerings, their fellow Levites assisted them until the task was completed and the priests had sanctified themselves. The Levites, in fact, were more careful than the priests to sanctify themselves.(E) 35 The burnt offerings were indeed many, along with the fat of the communion offerings and the libations for the burnt offerings. Thus the service of the house of the Lord was re-established. 36 Hezekiah and all the people rejoiced over what God had re-established for the people, and at how suddenly this had been done.
Chapter 15
The Seven Last Plagues. 1 [a]Then I saw in heaven another sign,[b] great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues, for through them God’s fury is accomplished.
2 Then I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire.[c] On the sea of glass were standing those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and the number that signified its name. They were holding God’s harps,(A) 3 and they sang the song of Moses,[d] the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb:
“Great and wonderful are your works,
Lord God almighty.
Just and true are your ways,
O king of the nations.(B)
4 Who will not fear you, Lord,
or glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
All the nations will come
and worship before you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”(C)
5 [e]After this I had another vision. The temple that is the heavenly tent of testimony[f] opened, 6 and the seven angels with the seven plagues came out of the temple. They were dressed in clean white linen, with a gold sash around their chests.(D) 7 One of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven gold bowls filled with the fury of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 Then the temple became so filled with the smoke from God’s glory and might that no one could enter it until the seven plagues of the seven angels had been accomplished.(E)
Chapter 11
The Cry of Trees, Shepherds, and Lions
1 Open your doors, Lebanon,
that fire may devour your cedars!
2 Wail, cypress trees,
for the cedars are fallen,
the mighty are destroyed!
Wail, oaks of Bashan,
for the dense forest is cut down!
3 Listen! the wailing of shepherds,
their glory has been destroyed.
Listen! the roaring of young lions,
the thickets of the Jordan are destroyed.
The Shepherd Narrative.[a](A) 4 Thus says the Lord, my God: Shepherd the flock to be slaughtered.(B) 5 For they who buy them slay them and are not held accountable; while those who sell them say, “Blessed be the Lord, I have become rich!” Even their own shepherds will not pity them. 6 For I will no longer pity the inhabitants of the earth—oracle of the Lord.—Yes, I will deliver them into each other’s power, or into the power of their kings; they will crush the earth, and I will not deliver it out of their power.
7 So I shepherded the flock to be slaughtered for the merchants of the flock. I took two staffs: one I called Delight, and the other Union. Thus I shepherded the flock. 8 In a single month, I did away with the three shepherds, for I wearied of them, and they disdained me. 9 “I will not shepherd you,” I said. “Whoever is to die shall die; whoever is to be done away with shall be done away with; and those who are left shall devour one another’s flesh.”
10 Then I took my staff Delight and snapped it in two, breaking my covenant which I had made with all peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day. The merchants of the flock, who were watching me, understood that this was the word of the Lord. 12 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, withhold them.”(C) And they counted out my wages,(D) thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, Throw it in the treasury—the handsome price at which they valued me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the treasury in the house of the Lord. 14 Then I snapped in two my second staff, Union, breaking the kinship between Judah and Israel.
15 The Lord said to me: This time take the gear of a foolish shepherd.(E) 16 For I am raising up a shepherd in the land who will take no note of those that disappear, nor seek the strays, nor heal the injured,(F) nor feed the exhausted; but he will eat the flesh of the fat ones and tear off their hoofs!
Oracle to the Worthless Shepherd
17 Ah! my worthless shepherd
who forsakes the flock!(G)
May the sword fall upon his arm
and upon his right eye;
His arm will surely wither,
and his right eye surely go blind!
Chapter 14
Last Supper Discourses. 1 [a]“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith[b] in God; have faith also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 [c]And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.(A) 4 Where [I] am going you know the way.”[d] 5 Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth[e] and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.(B) 7 If you know me, then you will also know my Father.[f] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”(C) 8 Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,[g] and that will be enough for us.”(D) 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?(E) 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.(F) 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.(G) 12 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.(H) 13 And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.(I) 14 If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.
The Advocate. 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.(J) 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate[h] to be with you always,(K) 17 the Spirit of truth,[i] which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.(L) 18 I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.[j] 19 In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.(M) 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.(N) 21 Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”(O) 22 Judas, not the Iscariot,[k] said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”(P) 23 Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.(Q) 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.
25 “I have told you this while I am with you. 26 The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.(R) 27 Peace[l] I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.(S) 28 [m]You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’(T) If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.(U) 30 I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world[n] is coming. He has no power over me, 31 but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go.(V)
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.