M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
16 Then God gave a message to Hanani's son Jehu about punishment for King Baasha. 2 This was the message: ‘Even though you were not an important person, I made you the leader of my people, the Israelites. But then you did all the bad things that Jeroboam did! Also, you caused my people the Israelites to do bad things. Their sins have caused me to become very angry. 3 So now I am ready to destroy you and your family. I will remove your family as I did to the family of Nebat's son Jeroboam. 4 If people of your family die in the city, dogs will eat their bodies. If they die in the country, vultures will eat them.’
5 The other things that happened while Baasha was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Baasha did and about his power. 6 Baasha died and they buried him in Tirzah. His son Elah became king after him.
7 Hanani's son Jehu, the prophet, had received a message from the Lord about Baasha and his family. Baasha had done many things that the Lord said were evil, in the same way that Jeroboam had done. Baasha had even destroyed Jeroboam's whole family. These bad things made the Lord very angry.
Elah, king of Israel
8 When Asa had been king of Judah for 26 years, Baasha's son Elah became king of Israel. He ruled as king in Tirzah for two years.
9 Zimri was one of Elah's officers. He had authority over half of Elah's chariots. Zimri decided to kill King Elah. One day, Elah was in the home of a man called Arza, an officer who had authority over the king's palace in Tirzah. Elah was drinking too much wine and he became drunk. 10 Zimri came in to Arza's house. He hit Elah and he killed him. When this happened, Asa had been king of Judah for 27 years. Zimri made himself king instead of Elah.
11 When Zimri began to rule Israel as king, he killed everybody in Baasha's family. He did not leave any of Baasha's male relatives alive. He even killed Baasha's friends. 12 Zimri killed everybody in Baasha's family, as the Lord had said it would happen. The prophet Jehu had spoken the Lord's message against Baasha. 13 This happened because of all the sins that Baasha and his son Elah had done. They had also caused the Israelites to do bad things. The useless idols that they worshipped had made the Lord, Israel's God, very angry.
14 The other things that happened while Elah was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about all the things that Elah did.
Zimri, king of Israel
15 When Asa had been king of Judah for 27 years, Zimri became king of Israel. He ruled as king in Tirzah for seven days.
When Zimri killed King Elah, Israel's army was attacking a Philistine town called Gibbethon. 16 The army received this message: ‘Zimri has turned against the king and he has killed King Elah.’ Omri was the officer who led Israel's army. That day, Omri's soldiers decided to make Omri the king of Israel, while they were in their camp at Gibbethon. 17 So Omri and all Israel's army left Gibbethon and they went to attack Tirzah. 18 Zimri saw that Omri had taken power over the city. So he went into the strong buildings of the king's palace. He lit a fire to burn the palace all around him. Zimri himself died in the fire. 19 This happened because of the sins that he had done. He did things that the Lord says are evil. He did the same bad things that Jeroboam had done. He also caused the Israelites to continue doing bad things.
20 The other things that happened while Zimri was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about how he killed King Elah, as well as the other things that he did.
Omri, king of Israel
21 At that time, half of the Israelite people wanted Omri to be their king. But half of the people wanted Ginath's son Tibni to be their king. The two groups of people could not agree together. 22 But the group who wanted Omri to be king was stronger than the other group. As a result, Tibni died. Then Omri became the king of Israel.[a]
23 Omri became king of Israel when Asa had been king of Judah for 31 years. Omri ruled Israel as king for 12 years. He lived in Tirzah for the first six years. 24 Then Omri bought a hill from a man called Shemer. He paid Shemer 70 kilograms of silver for it. He built a city on the hill and he called the city Samaria. That was because the hill had belonged to Shemer.[b]
25 But Omri did many things that the Lord said were evil. He did more evil things than all the kings of Israel who lived before him. 26 He did the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done and that he caused the Israelites to do. The useless idols that they worshipped caused the Lord, Israel's God, to be very angry.
27 The other things that happened while Omri was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It tells about the things that he did and the power that he had. 28 Omri died and they buried him in Samaria. His son Ahab became king of Israel after him.
Ahab, king of Israel
29 Omri's son Ahab became king of Israel when Asa had been king of Judah for 38 years. Ahab ruled Israel as king in Samaria for 22 years.
30 Omri's son Ahab did many things that the Lord said were evil. He did more evil things than all the kings of Israel who lived before him. 31 He did the same bad things that Nebat's son Jeroboam had done. He even did something that was even worse. He married Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king of Sidon. Ahab served Baal as his god and he worshipped him. 32 Ahab built a temple for Baal in Samaria. He made an altar for Baal in this temple. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole to worship. He did many bad things that made the Lord, Israel's God, angry. He did more bad things than all the kings of Israel who lived before him.
34 While Ahab ruled as king, Hiel built Jericho city again. Hiel came from Bethel. Abiram, his firstborn son, died when Hiel built the city's foundation. Segub, his youngest son, died when he built the gates in the city's wall. The Lord had told Nun's son Joshua that this would happen.[c]
The old life and the new life
3 God has raised you with Christ to a new life. So you should want more and more the things that belong to heaven. That is where Christ is now. He sits there at God's right side. 2 So think about the good things that are there in heaven above. Do not think only about things that are on the earth. 3 Remember that your old nature has died. God is keeping your new life safe with Christ. 4 You have that new life because you belong to Christ. One day, Christ will show himself clearly to everyone. Then everyone will see that you are with him. They will see that you also are great, like he is.
5 Your old nature likes to do bad things that belong to this earth. But your old nature is dead, so do not do these bad things any more. Do not have sex with someone that you are not married to. Do not think bad, disgusting thoughts. Do not want to have sex in a wrong way. Do not want to do any kinds of bad things. Do not want to have many things for yourselves. That shows that you worship those things as your idol. 6 God will certainly punish people who do those kinds of bad things.
7 At one time, you lived like that. You did those kinds of bad things. 8 But now you must refuse to do all kinds of things like that. Do not become angry with people or shout at them. Do not do anything or say anything that will hurt other people. Do not speak any bad or disgusting words. 9 Do not deceive each other with lies. Remember that you have taken off your old nature, like an old coat. As a result, you can stop doing all the bad things that you liked to do before.
10 Now you have received a new nature. It is God who made it for you so that you can become more and more like him. You will learn to know him better and better. 11 People have this new nature only because they belong to Christ. That is the important thing. Jews are not different from Gentiles. It does not matter whether someone has circumcised you or not. It does not matter which country you come from or how clever you are. It does not matter whether you are a slave or a free person. Christ is all that matters. He lives in every believer.
12 God has chosen you to be his own special people. You belong to him and he loves you very much. So this is how you should live: Be kind to other people and help them. Do not think that you are better than other people. Instead, respect them and be patient with them. 13 Do not become angry with each other. If you think that someone has done something wrong against you, forgive them. Remember that the Lord has forgiven you. So you should also forgive other people. 14 And you must also love each other. That is the most important thing that you should do. Love holds all these good things completely together.
15 Christ has given you peace in your minds. So let that peace rule your thoughts. God has chosen you to be like one body, as his people. So he wants you to live together in peace. Thank God for everything that he gives to you. 16 Let Christ's message always be in your thoughts, with all the good things that it brings. Use that message to teach and to warn each other. Be very wise as you do that. And also sing all kinds of spiritual songs to praise God. Sing psalms and Christian songs. As you sing, thank God from inside yourselves. 17 Show that you belong to the Lord Jesus with everything that you do and with everything that you say. Always thank God the Father in the way that you serve Jesus.
Do what is right, at home and at work
18 Wives, obey your husbands. That is the right thing to do, because you belong to the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives. Do not bring trouble to them.
20 Children, always obey your parents. That pleases the Lord.
21 Fathers, do not cause your children to be upset. If you do, they might think that they never do anything that is good.
22 Slaves, always obey your human masters. Do not do good work only when they can see you. Some people only work to make other people like them. Instead, serve your masters well because you want to. That will show that you respect the Lord as your master. 23 Whatever things you are doing, do them well. Remember that you are serving the Lord. You are not only serving people. 24 You know that you will receive the good things that the Lord has promised to his people. He will give you what is right for you. The Lord Jesus Christ is the master that you serve. 25 Remember that God will punish anyone who does wrong things. He always judges people correctly, whoever they are.
46 ‘This is what the Almighty Lord says: The gate of the temple's inside yard that opens to the east must stay shut for the six days that you work. You must only open it on each Sabbath day and on the day of each new moon. 2 On those days, the ruler will go through the entrance room for this gate. It is his way in from the outside yard. He must stand beside the posts of the gate. The priests will then offer the ruler's burnt offering and his friendship offerings. The ruler will bend down low to worship me while he stands at the gate. Then he will go out. But they must not shut the gate until the evening. 3 On Sabbath days and on new moon days, the people must stand in front of the east gate. They will bend down low to worship me, the Lord.
4 Every Sabbath day, the ruler will bring six lambs and a male sheep as a burnt offering to the Lord. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. 5 The ruler will also bring grain offerings. He will offer an ephah of grain with the male sheep. For each of the lambs, he may give as much grain as he chooses. For each ephah of grain, he will offer a hin of olive oil.[a]
6 On the day of the new moon the ruler must offer a young bull, six lambs and a male sheep. These animals must have nothing wrong with them. 7 He will also bring grain offerings. He will offer an ephah of grain with the bull and an ephah with the sheep. For each of the lambs, he may give as much grain as he chooses. For each ephah of grain, he will offer a hin of olive oil. 8 When the ruler goes in, he must go through the gate's entrance room. And he must go out the same way.
9 The people will come to the temple to worship the Lord at the times of the festivals. If they come in through the north gate they must go out through the south gate. And if they come in through the south gate they must go out through the north gate. Nobody may go out of the gate through which he came in. He must go out by the opposite gate. 10 When the people go in, the ruler will go in with them. When the people go out, the ruler will also go out. 11 At the times of festivals and on other special days, the grain offering with each bull and each sheep will be an ephah. For each of the lambs, a person may give as much grain as they choose. They will give a hin of olive oil with each ephah of grain.
12 The ruler may choose to make a special gift to the Lord. It may be a burnt offering or a friendship offering. They must open the east gate of the inside yard for the ruler. He will make his offering at the gate, as he does on Sabbath days. Then he must go out. After he has left, they will shut the gate.
13 Every day, you must provide a lamb that is one year old and that has nothing wrong with it. Offer it to the Lord as a burnt offering. You must do that every morning, day after day. 14 With the lamb, you must give a grain offering. It will be one sixth of an ephah of grain. Mix a third of a hin of olive oil with the flour. This rule about the grain offering to the Lord will never change. 15 You must offer the lamb, with the grain offering and the olive oil, for a burnt offering every morning.
16 This is what the Almighty Lord says: The ruler may choose to give some of his land as a gift to one of his sons. If he does that, the land will belong to his son and to his descendants. It will always belong to their family. 17 The king may also choose to give some of his land to one of his servants. If he does that, the servant can keep the land until the year of Jubilee.[b] After that, the land will belong to the ruler again. The ruler's land will always belong to the ruler and to his descendants. 18 The king must not take for himself any land that belongs to the people. He must not take them away from their own land. He can only give his own land to his sons. Nobody may take any of my people away from the land that belongs to them.’
19 The man took me through the entrance beside the gate. We came to the holy rooms that belong to the priests. These rooms opened to the north. He showed me a place at the west end of these rooms. 20 He said to me, ‘This is the place where the priests will cook the meat for the sin offerings and for the guilt offerings. They will bake the grain offerings here, too. In this way, they will not have to take these holy things into the outside yard. If they did that, someone might touch them and become holy.’
21 Then the man took me to the outside yard. He took me around the yard to see its four corners. In each corner I saw that there was a small yard 22 These four small yards were 20 metres long and 15 metres wide. They were all the same size. 23 They had stone walls around them. At the bottom of the walls they had made places for fires to burn.
24 The man said to me, ‘The temple servants will use these kitchens to cook meat that the people bring for sacrifices.’
This is the prayer of a man who is weak and in trouble. He tells the Lord that he is very sad.
A young man's prayer[a]
102 Lord, please hear my prayer!
Listen to me when I call to you for help.
2 Now that I am in trouble,
please do not turn away from me.
Listen carefully to me.
Now that I am calling to you for help,
please answer me quickly.
3 My life is quickly disappearing,
like smoke from a fire.
My bones hurt very much,
as if they were burning in an oven.[b]
4 I am very weak and upset,
like dry grass that will soon die.
I even forget to eat my food.
5 I cry aloud with pain,
so that I am just skin and bones.[c]
6 I am like a wild bird in the desert.
I am like an owl in the wilderness.
7 I am awake in the night,
like a bird that sits alone on the roof.
8 All day my enemies insult me.
They laugh at me
and they use my name as a curse.
9-10 Because you are so angry with me,
I eat ashes as my food.
My tears drop
into the water that I drink.
It seems that you have picked me up,
and then you have thrown me away.
11 My days are disappearing,
like a shadow in the evening.
Like dry grass,
I will soon die.
12 But you, Lord, rule for ever as king.
People will always remember you.
13 You will soon be kind to Zion again.
Now it is time to forgive her.
Yes, the time is now right for you to do that.
14 Her buildings have become broken stones and dust.
But your servants still love your city.
We are sad to see that it is broken down.
15 The nations will respect the Lord's name.
All the kings of the world
will praise your glory.
16 That will happen when the Lord builds Zion again
and he appears there in his glory.
17 He will answer the prayers
of poor people who have nothing.
He will not refuse to help them.
18 Write these things down
for people who live in future times to read.
Then they too will praise the Lord.
19 Tell them that the Lord looked down
from his home in heaven.
He saw what was happening on the earth.
20 He heard the prisoners call out in pain.
He saved the lives of prisoners
so they could go free before their enemies could kill them.
21 As a result, people will shout the Lord's name in Zion.
Yes, they will praise him in Jerusalem!
22 At that time, people from all nations
will meet together.
The kingdoms of the world
will come to serve the Lord.
23 But God has made me weak
before I have reached old age.
He has made my life short.
24 So I pray, ‘My God, please do not let me die now,
in the middle of my life.
The years of your life continue for ever!
25 Long ago, you built the world on a strong foundation.
You created the heavens with your own hands.
26 They will all disappear one day,
but you will remain.
They will become spoiled,
like old clothes.
Like clothes, you will remove them,
so that they disappear.
27 But you remain the same, Lord.
The years of your life will never finish.
28 As your servants,
our children will live here safely.
Their children too will be safe,
as they live near to you.’
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