M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Hezekiah rules Judah as king

29 Hezekiah was 25 years old when he became king. He ruled Judah as king in Jerusalem for 29 years. His mother's name was Abijah. She was the daughter of Zechariah.^{[a] 2} Hezekiah did things that the Lord said were good, as his ancestor King David had done.

The Levites make the temple a holy place again

³ In the first month of the year that Hezekiah became king, he opened the doors of the Lord's temple. He repaired the doors. ⁴ He brought together the priests and the Levites in the yard at the east side of the temple. ⁵ He said to them, ‘Listen to me, you Levites. Make yourselves clean to serve the Lord. Then you can make the temple a holy place again. It is the temple of the Lord, the God of your ancestors. Take out of that holy place anything that is unclean.

⁶ Our ancestors did not serve the Lord faithfully. They did things that the Lord our God saw were evil. They turned away from him. They stopped worshipping him in his temple, where he lives. They completely turned against him. ⁷ They shut the doors at the entrance of the temple. They stopped burning oil in the lamps. They did not offer to Israel's God any incense or burnt offerings in his holy place. ⁸ So the Lord became angry with Judah and Jerusalem. He made them disgusting places which other people insult. You can see this with your own eyes. ⁹ You know that cruel enemies killed our fathers. They took away our sons, our daughters and our wives as their prisoners. That was God's punishment. ¹⁰ Now I want to make a covenant with the Lord, Israel's God. Then he will stop being angry with us.

¹¹ My sons, the Lord has chosen you to serve him in his temple and to offer sacrifices. So do your work well.’

¹² Then these Levites started to work in the temple:

¹⁵ Those men brought all the Levites together. They all made themselves clean to serve the Lord. Then they went into the temple to make it a holy place again, as the king had commanded them. They obeyed the Lord's command. ¹⁶ Then the priests went into the inside room of the Lord's temple to make it holy. They found some things in the temple that were unclean. They carried all those things out to the temple yard. Then the Levites took the unclean things out of the city to the Kidron Valley.

¹⁷ They began this work on the first day of the first month. On the 8th day of the month they reached the entrance room of the temple. They worked to make the temple a holy place for eight more days. On the 16th day of the first month they had finished the work.

¹⁸ Then they went to King Hezekiah and they said, ‘We have made the whole temple clean and holy. That includes the altar for burnt offerings and all its tools. It also includes the table for the special bread and all its tools. ¹⁹ When Ahaz was king, he removed many things from the temple when he turned away from the Lord. We have made all those things clean again. We have put them in front of the Lord's altar so that the priests can use them again.’

People worship God again in his temple

²⁰ King Hezekiah got up early the next morning. He brought the city's officers together. They all went up to the Lord's temple. ²¹ They took with them seven bulls, seven male sheep, seven lambs and seven male goats. They offered these animals as a sin offering for the kingdom, for the holy place and for the people of Judah. The king told the priests, Aaron's descendants, to offer sacrifices on the Lord's altar. ²² So they killed the bulls. The priests took the blood and they splashed it on the altar. Then they killed the male sheep. The priests splashed their blood on the altar too. Then they killed the lambs. The priests also splashed their blood on the altar. ²³ Finally, the priests brought the male goats in front of King Hezekiah and the people who were there. The king and the people put their hands on the goats. ²⁴ Then the priests killed the goats as a sin offering. They offered their blood on the altar as a sacrifice. Then all the people of Israel would no longer be guilty for their sins. This was because the king had said that the burnt offerings and the sin offerings would be for all Israel.

²⁵ The king told the Levites to stand in the Lord's temple with their cymbals, harps and lyres to make music. They stood at the places where King David, David's prophet Gad and the prophet Nathan had told the Levites to stand. This was the Lord's command that he had given to his prophets.^{[b] 26} The Levites held the musical instruments that King David had provided. The priests held their trumpets.

²⁷ Then Hezekiah told the priests to offer the burnt offering on the altar. When they began to offer the sacrifice, the singers started to sing to praise the Lord. The trumpets and the musical instruments of King David of Israel also started to make music. ²⁸ All the people there were worshipping the Lord. At the same time the singers were singing and the priests were making music with their trumpets. They all continued to do that until the priests finished making the burnt offering.

²⁹ When the priests finished offering the sacrifices, the king and everyone with him bent down low to worship God. ³⁰ King Hezekiah and his officers told the Levites to sing songs to praise the Lord. They told them to sing the songs that King David and the prophet Asaph had written. So the Levites praised God in that way. They were very happy and they bent down low to worship God.

³¹ Then Hezekiah said, ‘Now you have made yourselves clean to serve the Lord. So come to the Lord's temple and bring sacrifices and offerings to thank the Lord.’ So all the people brought their sacrifices and their offerings to thank the Lord. Everyone who wanted to offer burnt offerings brought animals for that too.

³² For their burnt offerings, the people brought 70 bulls, 100 male sheep and 200 lambs to offer to the Lord. ³³ They also brought 600 bulls and 3,000 sheep to offer to the Lord. ³⁴ But there were not enough priests to prepare all the animals for the sacrifices. So their relatives, the Levites, helped them until they had finished the work. By that time more priests had made themselves clean to serve the Lord. (The Levites had been more careful than the priests to make themselves clean for the Lord.) ³⁵ The people brought a lot of animals for burnt offerings. There was also the fat from the friendship offerings. And there were drink offerings too. The priests offered all those with the burnt offerings.

That is how they started to worship the Lord again in his temple. ³⁶ Hezekiah and all the people were happy because God had helped them. They had been able to do the work on the temple very quickly.

The seven angels with the last troubles

15 Then I saw another very wonderful thing in the sky.^[a] I saw seven angels with seven terrible troubles to hurt people. They are the final troubles. When they have finished, God will stop being angry.

² Then I saw what seemed to be a glass sea. Fire was mixed in it. I also saw people who were standing at the edge of the glass sea. Those people had fought against the wild animal and they had won. They had won against its image and the number that means its name. They had fought and they had won. God had given them harps. They held the harps to make music. ³ Now they sang the song of God's servant, Moses, and the Lamb's song.^[b] They sang this:

⁵ After this I looked again. I saw that God's house in heaven was open. That house is like God's tent, where he lived among his people in the wilderness.^{[c] 6} The seven angels with the seven terrible troubles then came out of God's house. They were wearing clean, bright clothes that were made from linen. They had gold belts around the top part of their bodies. ⁷ Then one of the four beings that were alive gave seven gold bowls to the seven angels. God had poured his anger into the bowls. He is the God who is alive for ever. ⁸ Then God's house in heaven became full of smoke, which showed God's great glory and his power. As a result, nobody could go into God's house until the angels had finished sending the seven terrible troubles.

The sheep and the shepherd

11 Open your gates, Lebanon,

so that the fires can burn down your cedar trees.

² Cry aloud, cypress tree, because the cedar tree has fallen.

Enemies have cut down the tall and beautiful trees.

Cry aloud, oak trees in Bashan,

because they have cut down the thick forest.

³ Listen to the shepherds!

They are crying because enemies have destroyed their fields.

Listen to the noise of the lions!

They are roaring because the trees beside the Jordan River

are no longer there.

The two shepherds^[a]

⁴ This is what the Lord said to me, Zechariah. ‘My people are like sheep. There will be a time when men will buy them. And then they will kill them. But feed them until that time.

⁵ Those men who buy the sheep will kill them. Nobody will punish them. They will sell them. And they will say, “Thank you Lord, because I am a rich man.” Their own shepherds do not give the sheep any help.’

⁶ The Lord says, ‘The people in this country were my people, but they are not my people now. I will not go on being kind to them. I myself will give them to their enemies and to foreign kings. The foreign kings will do very bad things to the country, but I will not come to help.’

⁷ So I was a good shepherd to the sheep that men would soon kill. I took special care of the weakest sheep. Then I took two sticks. And I called one stick ‘Grace’ and I called the other stick ‘Together’. I fed the sheep.

⁸ In one month, I sent away three shepherds. They did not like me and I was not patient with them.

⁹ I said to the sheep, ‘I will not be your shepherd and you will die. The sheep that do not die will eat each other.’

¹⁰ I took ‘Grace’ which was my first stick. I broke it into two pieces. The Lord's promise to his people finished.

¹¹ On the day that the Lord's promise finished, the weak sheep watched me. They knew that it was the Lord's message.

¹² I said to them, ‘You may think that I should have some money for my work. If you do think that, pay me my money. If you do not want to pay me, keep it.’ So they paid me 30 silver coins.

¹³ The Lord said to me, ‘Throw the 30 silver coins to the man who makes pots in the house of the Lord.’ They thought that I was not worth very much! I took the 30 coins. And I threw them to the man who makes pots. He makes them for the house of the Lord.

¹⁴ Then I broke the second stick called ‘Together’. I made the kingdom of Judah separate from the kingdom of Israel. ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to me, Zechariah, ‘Take again the tools of a useless shepherd. ¹⁶ I have chosen a man to watch the sheep. He will not help the sheep that are dying. He will not look for the sheep that have gone away. He will not help the sick sheep or feed the strong sheep. He will eat the meat of the fat sheep. He will tear off their feet to get all the meat.

¹⁷ Bad things will happen to the bad shepherd who leaves his sheep.

His enemy's knife will cut his arm and his right eye.

His arm will become like a dry stick. And his right eye will no longer be able to see anything.’

Jesus is the way to the Father

14 Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Do not be sad or afraid. Believe in God, and also believe in me. ² There are many rooms in my Father's house. I will go now so that I can prepare a place for you there. If it was not true, I would not have told you this. ³ After I have prepared a place for you, I will return. Then I will take you so that you will be with me. You will be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I will go.’

⁵ Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you will go. So how can we know the way to get there?’ ⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. Nobody comes to the Father except by me. ⁷ If you really know me, you will also know my Father. From now on, you do know him and you have seen him.’

⁸ Philip said, ‘Lord, show the Father to us. That is all that we need.’ ⁹ Jesus answered, ‘I have been with all of you for a long time. But still you do not seem to know me, Philip! Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. So why do you say, “Show the Father to us”? ¹⁰ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. You should believe that. The words that I say to you do not come from me myself. But the Father lives in me, and he is doing his work. ¹¹ I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Believe me when I say that. You have seen the things that I have done. So, if you do not believe my words, believe because of my work. ¹² I tell you this: Whoever believes in me will do the same things that I have been doing. Yes, he will do even greater things than these, because I will go to my Father. ¹³ Ask me to help you. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it for you. In that way, the Son will show everyone how great the Father is. ¹⁴ Yes, you should ask me for anything in my name.^[a] I will do it for you.’

Jesus promises to send God's Spirit

¹⁵ Jesus then said, ‘If you love me, do what I have told you to do. ¹⁶ I will ask the Father to help you with this. He will send another Helper to be with you. That Helper will stay with you for ever. ¹⁷ He is God's Spirit and he shows you what is true. The people who belong to this world cannot receive him. That is because they cannot see him. They cannot know who he is. But you know him because he stays with you. And he will be in you. ¹⁸ I will not let you remain alone, like children without parents. I will come to you.

¹⁹ Soon, the people who belong to this world will not see me any more. But you will see me. Because I continue to live, you also will live. ²⁰ On that day, you will know that I am in my Father. You will know that you are in me and I am in you. ²¹ Those people who obey my commands are the ones who really love me. They accept my words and they do what I say. My Father will love everyone who loves me. I also will love them and I will show myself to them.’

²² Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, ‘Lord, why will you show yourself only to us? Why will you not show yourself also to the people who belong to this world?’

²³ Jesus replied, ‘Everyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them. And my Father and I will come to them and we will make our home with them. ²⁴ Anyone who does not love me will not obey my message. These words that you hear are not my own. No, they come from the Father, who sent me. ²⁵ I have said these things to you while I am still with you. ²⁶ But the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be with you. He will be your Helper. He will come in my name, and he will teach you all things.^[b] He will help you to remember everything that I have told you.

²⁷ I will go away but I will give you a gift of peace. It is mine to give and yours to keep. It is not like a gift that this world gives. Do not let yourselves be sad. Do not be afraid. ²⁸ You heard me say to you, “I will go away, but I will return to you.” If you loved me, you would be happy because of that. You would be happy because I will go to the Father. And he is greater than I am. ²⁹ I have told you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe. ³⁰ I will not talk with you much more, because the ruler of this world will come soon. He has no power over me. ³¹ But the people who belong to this world must learn about me. They must know that I love the Father. I do everything that he tells me to do. I must show that to them. Now get up, we must go from here.’