M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David’s Family

3 These are David’s sons who were born in Hebron. The first was Amnon, whose mother was Ahinoam from Jezreel. The second son was Daniel, whose mother was Abigail from Carmel. ² The third son was Absalom, whose mother was Maacah daughter of Talmai, the king of Geshur. The fourth son was Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith. ³ The fifth son was Shephatiah, whose mother was Abital. The sixth son was Ithream, whose mother was Eglah. ⁴ These six sons of David were born to him in Hebron, where David ruled for seven and one-half years.

David ruled in Jerusalem thirty-three years. ⁵ These were his children who were born in Jerusalem: Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon—the four children of David and Bathsheba, Ammiel’s daughter. ^6-8 David’s other nine children were Ibhar, Elishua, Eliphelet, Nogah, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Eliada, and Eliphelet. ⁹ These were all of David’s sons, except for those born to his slave women. David also had a daughter named Tamar.

The Kings of Judah

¹⁰ Solomon’s son was Rehoboam. Rehoboam’s son was Abijah. Abijah’s son was Asa. Asa’s son was Jehoshaphat. ¹¹ Jehoshaphat’s son was Jehoram. Jehoram’s son was Ahaziah. Ahaziah’s son was Joash. ¹² Joash’s son was Amaziah. Amaziah’s son was Azariah. Azariah’s son was Jotham. ¹³ Jotham’s son was Ahaz. Ahaz’s son was Hezekiah. Hezekiah’s son was Manasseh. ¹⁴ Manasseh’s son was Amon, and Amon’s son was Josiah.

¹⁵ These were Josiah’s sons: His first son was Johanan, his second was Jehoiakim, his third was Zedekiah, and his fourth was Shallum.

¹⁶ Jehoiakim was followed by Jehoiachin, and he was followed by Zedekiah.

David’s Descendants After the Babylonian Captivity

¹⁷ Jehoiachin was taken as a prisoner. His sons were Shealtiel, ¹⁸ Malkiram, Pedaiah, Shenazzar, Jekamiah, Hoshama, and Nedabiah.

¹⁹ Pedaiah’s sons were Zerubbabel and Shimei.

Zerubbabel’s sons were Meshullam and Hananiah, and their sister was Shelomith. ²⁰ Zerubbabel also had five other sons: Hashubah, Ohel, Berekiah, Hasadiah, and Jushab-Hesed.

²¹ Hananiah’s descendants were Pelatiah and Jeshaiah, and the sons of Rephaiah, Arnan, Obadiah, and Shecaniah.

²² Shecaniah’s son was Shemaiah. Shemaiah’s sons were Hattush, Igal, Bariah, Neariah, and Shaphat. There were six in all.

²³ Neariah had three sons: Elioenai, Hizkiah, and Azrikam.

²⁴ Elioenai had seven sons: Hodaviah, Eliashib, Pelaiah, Akkub, Johanan, Delaiah, and Anani.

Other Family Groups of Judah

4 Judah’s descendants were Perez, Hezron, Carmi, Hur, and Shobal.

² Reaiah was Shobal’s son. Reaiah was the father of Jahath, and Jahath was the father of Ahumai and Lahad. They were the family groups of the Zorathite people.

^3-4 Hur was the oldest son of Caleb and his wife Ephrathah. Hur was the leader of Bethlehem. His three sons were Etam, Penuel, and Ezer. Etam’s sons were Jezreel, Ishma, and Idbash. They had a sister named Hazzelelponi. Penuel was the father of Gedor, and Ezer was the father of Hushah.

⁵ Tekoa’s father was Ashhur. Ashhur had two wives named Helah and Naarah.

⁶ The sons of Ashhur and Naarah were Ahuzzam, Hepher, Temeni, and Haahashtari. These were the descendants of Naarah.

⁷ Helah’s sons were Zereth, Zohar, Ethnan, ⁸ and Koz. Koz was the father of Anub, Hazzobebah, and the Aharhel family group. Aharhel was the son of Harum.

⁹ There was a man named Jabez, who was respected more than his brothers. His mother named him Jabez^[a] because she said, “I was in much pain when I gave birth to him.” ¹⁰ Jabez prayed to the God of Israel, “Please do good things for me and give me more land. Stay with me, and don’t let anyone hurt me. Then I won’t have any pain.” And God did what Jabez had asked.

¹¹ Kelub, Shuhah’s brother, was the father of Mehir. Mehir was the father of Eshton. ¹² Eshton was the father of Beth Rapha, Paseah, and Tehinnah. Tehinnah was the father of the people from the town of Nahash. These people were from Recah.

¹³ The sons of Kenaz were Othniel and Seraiah.

Othniel’s sons were Hathath and Meonothai. ¹⁴ Meonothai was the father of Ophrah.

Seraiah was the father of Joab. Joab was the ancestor of the people from Craftsmen’s Valley, named that because the people living there were craftsmen.

¹⁵ Caleb was Jephunneh’s son. Caleb’s sons were Iru, Elah, and Naam. Elah’s son was Kenaz.

¹⁶ Jehallelel’s sons were Ziph, Ziphah, Tiria, and Asarel.

^17-18 Ezrah’s sons were Jether, Mered, Epher, and Jalon. Mered married Bithiah, the daughter of the king of Egypt. The children of Mered and Bithiah were Miriam, Shammai, and Ishbah. Ishbah was the father of Eshtemoa. Mered also had a wife from Judah, who gave birth to Jered, Heber, and Jekuthiel. Jered became the father of Gedor. Heber became the father of Soco. And Jekuthiel became the father of Zanoah.

¹⁹ Hodiah’s wife was Naham’s sister. The sons of Hodiah’s wife were Eshtemoa and the father of Keilah. Keilah was from the Garmite people, and Eshtemoa was from the Maacathite people.

²⁰ Shimon’s sons were Amnon, Rinnah, Ben-Hanan, and Tilon.

Ishi’s sons were Zoheth and Ben-Zoheth.

^21-22 Shelah was Judah’s son. Shelah’s sons were Er, Laadah, Jokim, the men from Cozeba, Joash, and Saraph. Er was the father of Lecah. Laadah was the father of Mareshah and the family groups of linen workers at Beth Ashbea. Joash and Saraph ruled in Moab and Jashubi Lehem. The writings about this family are very old. ²³ These sons of Shelah were potters. They lived in Netaim and Gederah and worked for the king.

Simeon’s Children

²⁴ Simeon’s sons were Nemuel, Jamin, Jarib, Zerah, and Shaul. ²⁵ Shaul’s son was Shallum. Shallum’s son was Mibsam. Mibsam’s son was Mishma.

²⁶ Mishma’s son was Hammuel. Hammuel’s son was Zaccur. Zaccur’s son was Shimei. ²⁷ Shimei had sixteen sons and six daughters, but his brothers did not have many children, so there were not as many people in their family group as there were in Judah.

²⁸ Shimei’s children lived in Beersheba, Moladah, Hazar Shual, ²⁹ Bilhah, Ezem, Tolad, ³⁰ Bethuel, Hormah, Ziklag, ³¹ Beth Marcaboth, Hazar Susim, Beth Biri, and Shaaraim. They lived in these cities until David became king. ³² The five villages near these cities were Etam, Ain, Rimmon, Token, and Ashan. ³³ There were also other villages as far away as Baalath. This is where they lived. And they wrote the history of their family.

^34-38 The men in this list were leaders of their family groups: Meshobab, Jamlech, Joshah son of Amaziah, Joel, Jehu son of Joshibiah (Joshibiah was the son of Seraiah, who was the son of Asiel), Elioenai, Jaakobah, Jeshohaiah, Asaiah, Adiel, Jesimiel, Benaiah, and Ziza. (Ziza was the son of Shiphi, who was the son of Allon. Allon was the son of Jedaiah, who was the son of Shimri. And Shimri was the son of Shemaiah.)

These families grew very large. ³⁹ They went outside the city of Gedor to the east side of the valley to look for pasture for their flocks. ⁴⁰ They found good pastures with plenty of grass, and the land was open country and peaceful and quiet. Ham’s descendants had lived there in the past.

⁴¹ These men who were listed came to Gedor while Hezekiah was king of Judah. They fought against the Hamites, destroying their tents, and also against the Meunites who lived there, and completely destroyed them. So there are no Meunites there even today. Then these men began to live there, because there was pasture for their flocks. ⁴² Ishi’s sons, Pelatiah, Neariah, Rephaiah, and Uzziel, led five hundred of the Simeonites and attacked the people living in the mountains of Edom. ⁴³ They killed the few Amalekites who were still alive. From that time until now these Simeonites have lived in Edom.

The Old Agreement

9 The first agreement^[a] had rules for worship and a place on earth for worship. ² The Holy Tent was set up for this. The first area in the Tent was called the Holy Place. In it were the lamp and the table with the bread that was made holy for God. ³ Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place. ⁴ In it was a golden altar for burning incense and the Ark covered with gold that held the old agreement. Inside this Ark was a golden jar of manna, Aaron’s rod that once grew leaves, and the stone tablets of the old agreement. ⁵ Above the Ark were the creatures that showed God’s glory, whose wings reached over the lid. But we cannot tell everything about these things now.

⁶ When everything in the Tent was made ready in this way, the priests went into the first room every day to worship. ⁷ But only the high priest could go into the second room, and he did that only once a year. He could never enter the inner room without taking blood with him, which he offered to God for himself and for sins the people did without knowing they did them. ⁸ The Holy Spirit uses this to show that the way into the Most Holy Place was not open while the system of the old Holy Tent was still being used. ⁹ This is an example for the present time. It shows that the gifts and sacrifices offered cannot make the conscience of the worshiper perfect. ¹⁰ These gifts and sacrifices were only about food and drink and special washings. They were rules for the body, to be followed until the time of God’s new way.

The New Agreement

¹¹ But when Christ came as the high priest of the good things we now have,^[b] he entered the greater and more perfect tent. It is not made by humans and does not belong to this world. ¹² Christ entered the Most Holy Place only once—and for all time. He did not take with him the blood of goats and calves. His sacrifice was his own blood, and by it he set us free from sin forever. ¹³ The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a cow are sprinkled on the people who are unclean, and this makes their bodies clean again. ¹⁴ How much more is done by the blood of Christ. He offered himself through the eternal Spirit^[c] as a perfect sacrifice to God. His blood will make our consciences pure from useless acts so we may serve the living God.

¹⁵ For this reason Christ brings a new agreement from God to his people. Those who are called by God can now receive the blessings he has promised, blessings that will last forever. They can have those things because Christ died so that the people who lived under the first agreement could be set free from sin.

¹⁶ When there is a will,^[d] it must be proven that the one who wrote that will is dead. ¹⁷ A will means nothing while the person is alive; it can be used only after the person dies. ¹⁸ This is why even the first agreement could not begin without blood to show death. ¹⁹ First, Moses told all the people every command in the law. Next he took the blood of calves and mixed it with water. Then he used red wool and a branch of the hyssop plant to sprinkle it on the book of the law and on all the people. ²⁰ He said, “This is the blood that begins the Agreement that God commanded you to obey.”^{[e] 21} In the same way, Moses sprinkled the blood on the Holy Tent and over all the things used in worship. ²² The law says that almost everything must be made clean by blood, and sins cannot be forgiven without blood to show death.

Christ’s Death Takes Away Sins

²³ So the copies of the real things in heaven had to be made clean by animal sacrifices. But the real things in heaven need much better sacrifices. ²⁴ Christ did not go into the Most Holy Place made by humans, which is only a copy of the real one. He went into heaven itself and is there now before God to help us. ²⁵ The high priest enters the Most Holy Place once every year with blood that is not his own. But Christ did not offer himself many times. ²⁶ Then he would have had to suffer many times since the world was made. But Christ came only once and for all time at just the right time to take away all sin by sacrificing himself. ²⁷ Just as everyone must die once and then be judged, ²⁸ so Christ was offered as a sacrifice one time to take away the sins of many people. And he will come a second time, not to offer himself for sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

Warning to Israel

3 Listen to this word that the Lord has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family he brought out of Egypt.

¹² This is what the Lord says:

¹³ “Listen and be witnesses against the family of Jacob,” says the Lord God, the God All-Powerful.

Praise God Who Helps the Weak

Praise God Who Helps His People