M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Manasseh rules Judah as king

33 Manasseh was 12 years old when he became king. He ruled as king in Jerusalem for 55 years. ² Manasseh did things that the Lord said were evil. He did the same terrible sins that the other nations in Canaan had done. Those were the nations that the Lord had chased out so that the Israelites could live there. ³ Manasseh built again the altars on the hills that his father Hezekiah had knocked down. He built altars for people to worship idols of Baal. He also made Asherah poles. He bent down low to worship all the stars in the sky. ⁴ He built altars in the Lord's temple.^[a] The Lord had said about his temple, ‘That is my home in Jerusalem where people will worship me for ever.’ ⁵ Manasseh built altars to give honour to the stars in both yards of the Lord's temple. ⁶ He burnt his own sons with fire as a sacrifice in Ben Hinnom valley. He used magic and false gods to find out what would happen in the future. He took advice from magicians and people who talked to the spirits of dead people. He did many things that the Lord said were very evil. This made the Lord very angry.

⁷ Manasseh made an image of a false god. He put this idol in God's temple. God had said this about his temple to King David and to his son King Solomon: ‘My people will worship me in my temple here in Jerusalem. That is the place that I have chosen to be my home for ever. I have chosen it from among all the tribes of Israel. ⁸ I will never cause the Israelite people to leave this land that I gave to their ancestors. But they must be careful to obey all my commands, my laws and the rules that I gave to my servant Moses for them.’

⁹ But Manasseh caused Judah's people and the people of Jerusalem to turn away from God. So they did more evil things than the people who lived in Canaan before them. The Lord had destroyed those nations so that the Israelites could live there.

The Lord punishes Manasseh

¹⁰ The Lord warned Manasseh and his people. But they would not listen to him. ¹¹ So the Lord brought the officers of the king of Assyria's army to attack them. They took hold of Manasseh. They put metal hooks in his nose and they tied bronze chains around him. Then they took him away to Babylon. ¹² This gave Manasseh a lot of pain. He asked the Lord his God to be kind to him. He made himself humble and he prayed for help to the Lord, the God of his ancestors.

¹³ When Manasseh prayed to the Lord, the Lord answered him. He was kind to Manasseh, as Manasseh had asked him to be. So the Lord brought Manasseh back to Jerusalem again, to rule there as king. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord is the true God.

¹⁴ After that, Manasseh repaired the outside wall of the City of David. He built it higher, from the west side of Gihon stream, as far as the Fish Gate. Then he continued around Ophel hill. He built the wall up higher than it had been. He also put army officers with their soldiers in all the strong cities of Judah.

¹⁵ Manasseh removed from the Lord's temple the foreign gods and the idol that he had put there. He also removed the altars that he had built on the hill of the temple and in other places in Jerusalem. He threw them away, outside the city. ¹⁶ Then he repaired the Lord's altar in the temple. He brought friendship offerings and thank offerings as sacrifices on the altar. He told Judah's people to worship the Lord, Israel's God. ¹⁷ The people still offered sacrifices at the other altars in the country. But they only offered those sacrifices to the Lord their God.

Manasseh dies

¹⁸ The other things that happened while Manasseh was king are written in a book. The book is called ‘The history of Israel's kings’. It includes Manasseh's prayer to God. It also includes the messages that the Lord, Israel's God, told his prophets to speak to Manasseh. ¹⁹ The book of the prophets' messages also includes Manasseh's prayer and how God answered him. It tells about all Manasseh's sins and how he turned away from God. It includes a list of all the places where he built altars and where he put Asherah poles and idols. He did those things before he made himself humble and he turned back to God.

²⁰ Manasseh died and his people buried him in his palace. His son Amon became king after him.

Amon rules Judah as king

²¹ Amon was 22 years old when he became king.^[b] He ruled as king in Jerusalem for two years. ²² Amon did things that the Lord said were evil, as his father Manasseh had done. He offered sacrifices to all the idols that his father Manasseh had made. He worshipped those idols. ²³ But he did not make himself humble and turn back to the Lord, as his father Manasseh had done. Instead, Amon became guilty of even more sins.

Amon dies

²⁴ Amon's own officers decided to kill him. They killed him in his palace. ²⁵ Then the people of Judah punished all Amon's murderers with death. They chose his son Josiah to be king after him.

The people in heaven praise God

19 After these things, I heard a sound like the voices of a great crowd of people in heaven. They were shouting,

³ Then the crowd of people in heaven shouted again,

⁴ The 24 leaders and the four beings that are alive then threw themselves down on the ground. They worshipped God, who was sitting on the throne. They said, ‘It is true! Praise the Lord God!’

⁵ Then a voice spoke from the throne. It said,

⁶ Then I heard a sound like the noise of a very big crowd that was shouting. The sound was like the noise of water that pours quickly along a river. It was like the noise of loud thunder. The crowd of people shouted,

⁸ God has given her linen clothes to wear that are bright and clean.’

These special linen clothes show the good things that God's holy people have done.^[b]

⁹ Then the angel said to me, ‘Write down this message: “There will be a special meal at the Lamb's wedding party. God has truly blessed those people that he has asked to come to that meal.” ’ The angel also said to me, ‘This is a true message from God.’

¹⁰ Then I bent down low at the angel's feet to worship him. But he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am only a servant of God, the same as you are. I am a servant, like all believers who show clearly that they trust in Jesus. God is the one that you should worship! When God gave a message to his prophets, it was Jesus that they spoke about.’

The great king on a white horse

¹¹ I saw that heaven was now open. I saw a white horse there! The name of the man who was riding the horse was this: ‘A faithful, honest person’. He is always right when he judges people and when he goes to punish them in war. ¹² His eyes burn like bright flames of fire. Many crowns are on his head. He has a name that is written on him, but nobody knows that name except himself. ¹³ He wears a long shirt with a lot of blood on it. His name is: ‘The Word of God’.

¹⁴ Heaven's armies were following him. They were also riding on white horses. They were wearing linen clothes that were white and clean. ¹⁵ A sharp sword was coming out of his mouth.^[c] He will use this sword to attack the people of all the nations of the world. Then he will rule them with strong authority. He will punish them like someone who stamps on grapes in a winepress. That will show God's great anger against them. He is the Almighty God.^{[d] 16} The man who rides on the white horse has a name that is written on his shirt. It is also written high on his leg. His name is: ‘The King who rules over all other kings. The Lord who rules over all lords’.^[e]

¹⁷ Then I saw an angel who was standing in the sun. He shouted loudly to all the birds that were flying high in the sky, ‘Come here! Come together to eat the big meal that God has prepared. ¹⁸ Eat the meat from the dead bodies of God's enemies! Come and eat the meat of kings, the meat of army captains and the meat of powerful men. Eat the meat of dead horses and the soldiers who ride them. Eat the meat of all kinds of people: slaves and free people, important people and ordinary people.’

¹⁹ Then I saw the wild animal and the kings of the earth and their armies. They had come together to fight a war. They were ready to fight a battle against the man who rode on the white horse and his army. ²⁰ But the rider and his army caught the wild animal. They also caught the false prophet who had done miracles to help the wild animal. He used those miracles to deceive the people who had the wild animal's mark on them. Those people worshipped his image. Now the rider and his army threw the wild animal and the false prophet into the lake of fire. They were still alive when they threw them into the lake that burns with sulphur.

²¹ The rider of the white horse then killed all his other enemies. He killed them with the sword that came out of his mouth. So then all the birds ate the meat from the dead bodies until they were completely full.

God has loved Jacob but not Esau

1 This is the message that the Lord told to Malachi.^[a] Malachi knew that he must tell this message to the Israelites.

² The Lord says, ‘I have loved you.’

But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’^[b]

The Lord says, ‘I chose to love Jacob and his descendants. Esau was Jacob's brother. ³ But I have not loved Esau and his descendants.^[c]

Instead, I have caused trouble for Esau. I caused Esau's mountains to become a wilderness. Nobody uses that land any longer. Now there are only jackals in the land that belongs to Esau.’

⁴ Esau's descendants in Edom may say, ‘They have destroyed our towns, but we will build our houses again.’

But the Lord Almighty says, ‘They may build again, but I will knock everything down. People will call Edom, “The Evil Land”.^[d] They will call them, “The Nation that the Lord is angry with for ever”. ⁵ You will see with your own eyes what I will do to them. Then you will say, “The Lord has great power, even beyond Israel's borders.” ’

The priests do not respect God

⁶ The Lord Almighty says this to the priests:

‘A son respects his father. A servant respects his master. If I am really your father and your master, why do you not respect me? You are my priests, but you insult my name.^[e]

But then you ask, “What have we done to insult your name?”

⁷ You insult my name when you offer unclean sacrifices to me on my altar.

But you ask, “How have we offered unclean sacrifices to you?”

You have shown that you do not respect the Lord's altar as important.^{[f] 8} You offer blind animals as a sacrifice to me. You know that is wrong. You offer to me animals that cannot walk or animals that are ill. That is also a wrong thing to do. You would not give gifts like that to your city's ruler. If you did, he would surely not accept them. He would not be happy with your gifts.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

⁹ ‘Now you ask me to be kind to you. You want me to forgive you. But when you offer unclean animals as gifts to me, I will not be happy with your gifts.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

¹⁰ ‘It would be better if one of you shut the temple doors! Then you would not be able to offer useless sacrifices on my altar. I am not happy with you. I will not accept any more gifts from you.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

¹¹ ‘People in every nation of the whole world will respect my name. People everywhere will offer incense and pure sacrifices to worship me. They will all know that I am great.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

¹² ‘But you priests insult my name. You say that the Lord's altar is not special. You think that the food which you offer to me has no value. ¹³ You also say, “It is too much trouble to serve the Lord.” You think that you are too important to serve me.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

‘You offer to me animals that cannot walk or that are ill. You have even robbed other people to get some of these animals. Do you think that I will accept these unclean animals from you? Will I be happy with them?’

That is what the Lord says.

¹⁴ ‘You may promise to offer to me a valuable male animal from among your sheep. But then you change your mind. Instead, you offer to me an animal that has no value. I will surely punish you when you cheat me like that. Remember that I am a great king. People of all nations in the world respect my name with fear.’

That is what the Lord Almighty says.

Soldiers take Jesus to the leader of the priests

18 When Jesus had finished praying, he and his disciples went out. They went across the Kidron valley. On the other side, there was a garden. Jesus and his disciples went into it. ² Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, knew the garden. He knew the place because Jesus and his disciples had met there often. ³ The leaders of the priests and the Pharisees sent a group of soldiers and some officers with Judas. He led these soldiers and officers to the garden.^[a] The soldiers had weapons and they carried lights.

⁴ Jesus knew everything that would soon happen to him. He went towards them and he asked them, ‘Who are you looking for?’ ⁵ They answered, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ Jesus said, ‘That is who I am.’

Judas, who sold Jesus to his enemies, was standing there with the soldiers. ⁶ When Jesus said the words, ‘I am,’ the soldiers quickly moved away from him.^[b] They fell down to the ground. ⁷ So Jesus asked them again, ‘Who are you looking for?’ They said, ‘Jesus, who comes from Nazareth.’ ⁸ Jesus replied, ‘I have told you already, that is who I am. Since it is me that you are looking for, let these other men go.’ ⁹ Jesus said this because earlier he had said, ‘I have lost none of those people that you gave to me.’ This made what he had spoken earlier really happen.

¹⁰ Simon Peter had a sword. He took hold of it and he attacked the servant of the leader of the priests. He cut off the servant's right ear. The servant's name was Malchus. ¹¹ Then Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword away in its place! My Father has decided what great pain I must have. I will obey him completely.’

¹² The group of soldiers, with their captain and the Jewish officers, took hold of Jesus. They tied him with ropes. ¹³ They led him first to Annas, who was the father of Caiaphas's wife. Caiaphas was the leader of the priests that year. ¹⁴ It was Caiaphas who had already spoken to the Jewish leaders. He had told them, ‘It is better that one man should die on behalf of the people.’^[c]

Peter says that he does not know Jesus

¹⁵ Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. That other disciple and the leader of the priests knew each other. So that disciple went with Jesus into the yard of the house of the leader of the priests. ¹⁶ But Peter stayed outside by the gate. Then the other disciple went out again. He spoke to the girl who was watching at the gate. Then he brought Peter into the yard. ¹⁷ The girl who was at the gate asked Peter, ‘Are you another of this man's disciples?’ Peter replied, ‘No, I am not!’

¹⁸ It was cold. So the servants and the officers had made a fire. They were standing around it to make themselves warm. Peter went to stand with them, so that he could make himself warm too.

The leader of the priests asks Jesus questions

¹⁹ The leader of the priests asked Jesus questions about his disciples. He also asked about what Jesus taught. ²⁰ Jesus answered him, ‘I have always taught in the Jewish meeting places, or at the temple. Those are public places where all the Jews meet together. I have said nothing secretly. ²¹ So you do not need to ask me these questions. You can ask the people who heard me when I taught them. They know what I said.’

²² When Jesus said this, one of the soldiers hit him on the face. The soldier said, ‘You should not speak to the leader of the priests like that!’ ²³ Jesus replied, ‘If I said something wrong, tell us what it is. But if I said something that is true, you should not have hit me.’^{[d] 24} Then Annas sent Jesus to Caiaphas, the leader of the priests.^[e] Jesus still had ropes tied round his arms.

Peter says again that he does not know Jesus

²⁵ Simon Peter was still standing there by the fire to make himself warm. The other people there said to him, ‘You must also be one of that man's disciples.’ But Peter said, ‘No, I am not.’

²⁶ One of the people there was a servant of the leader of the priests. He belonged to the same family as the man whose ear Peter had cut off. This servant said to Peter, ‘I am sure that I saw you in the garden with Jesus.’ ²⁷ Again, Peter said, ‘No, that is not true.’ Immediately a cockerel sang.

Pilate asks Jesus questions

²⁸ The Jewish leaders took Jesus from Caiaphas's house to the Roman ruler's big house.^[f] It was early in the morning. The Jewish leaders wanted to follow the Jewish rules so that they could eat the Passover meal. They did not go into the ruler's house, because it would have made them unclean.^[g]

²⁹ So Pilate, the Roman ruler, went outside to meet them. He asked them, ‘What wrong thing do you say that this man has done?’ ³⁰ They replied, ‘We would not have brought him to you if he had done nothing wrong.’ ³¹ Pilate said to them, ‘You yourselves take him away. You should judge him by your own laws.’ The Jewish leaders replied, ‘We do not have authority to kill anyone when they have done something bad.’^{[h] 32} Jesus had already told people how he would die. These things happened to make his words become true.^[i]

³³ Pilate went back inside his palace. He told Jesus to come and stand in front of him. He asked Jesus, ‘Are you the king of the Jews?’ ³⁴ Jesus said, ‘Is that your own idea, or have other people spoken to you about me?’ ³⁵ Pilate replied, ‘I am not a Jew, am I? It was your own people and the leaders of your priests who brought you to me. What have you done?’

³⁶ Jesus said, ‘My kingdom does not belong to this world. If it did, my disciples would have fought for me. They would have fought so that the Jewish leaders could not take hold of me. No, my kingdom belongs to another place.’ ³⁷ Pilate said to him, ‘So that means you really are a king!’

Jesus answered, ‘You have said that I am a king! I was born for this reason: I came into the world to tell people the truth about God. Everyone who believes the truth listens to my message.’ ³⁸ Pilate said, ‘I do not know what truth is.’

When Pilate had said that, he went outside again to the Jewish people there. He said to them, ‘I do not see that this man is guilty of anything wrong. I have no reason to punish him. ³⁹ But every year we do something for you Jews. We let one man go free from the prison at the time of your Passover festival. Do you want me to let the king of the Jews go free?’ ⁴⁰ They shouted their answer, ‘No, we do not want him! Let Barabbas go free!’ (Barabbas was a man who had attacked people and robbed them.)