M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Preparations for Passover

30 ^(A)1-3 The people had not been able to celebrate the Passover Festival at the proper time in the first month, because not enough priests were ritually clean and not many people had assembled in Jerusalem. So King Hezekiah, his officials, and the people of Jerusalem agreed to celebrate it in the second month, and the king sent word to all the people of Israel and Judah. He took special care to send letters to the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, inviting them to come to the Temple in Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover in honor of the Lord, the God of Israel. ⁴ The king and the people were pleased with their plan, ⁵ so they invited all the Israelites, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south, to come together in Jerusalem and celebrate the Passover according to the Law, in larger numbers than ever before. ⁶ Messengers went out at the command of the king and his officials through all Judah and Israel with the following invitation:

“People of Israel, you have survived the Assyrian conquest of the land. Now return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will return to you. ⁷ Do not be like your ancestors and your Israelite relatives who were unfaithful to the Lord their God. As you can see, he punished them severely. ⁸ Do not be stubborn as they were, but obey the Lord. Come to the Temple in Jerusalem, which the Lord your God has made holy forever, and worship him so that he will no longer be angry with you. ⁹ If you return to the Lord, then those who have taken your relatives away as prisoners will take pity on them and let them come back home. The Lord your God is kind and merciful, and if you return to him, he will accept you.”

¹⁰ The messengers went to every city in the territory of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far north as the tribe of Zebulun, but people laughed at them and made fun of them. ¹¹ Still, there were some from the tribes of Asher, Manasseh, and Zebulun who were willing to come to Jerusalem. ¹² God was also at work in Judah and united the people in their determination to obey his will by following the commands of the king and his officials.

Passover Is Celebrated

¹³ A great number of people gathered in Jerusalem in the second month to celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. ¹⁴ They took all the altars that had been used in Jerusalem for offering sacrifices and burning incense and threw them into Kidron Valley. ¹⁵ And on the fourteenth day of the month they killed the lambs for the Passover sacrifice. The priests and Levites who were not ritually clean became so ashamed that they dedicated themselves to the Lord, and now they could sacrifice burnt offerings in the Temple. ¹⁶ They took their places in the Temple according to the instructions in the Law of Moses, the man of God. The Levites gave the blood of the sacrifices to the priests, who sprinkled it on the altar. ¹⁷ Because many of the people were not ritually clean, they could not kill the Passover lambs, so the Levites did it for them and dedicated the lambs to the Lord. ¹⁸ In addition, many of those who had come from the tribes of Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun had not performed the ritual of purification, and so they were observing Passover improperly. King Hezekiah offered this prayer for them: ¹⁹ “O Lord, the God of our ancestors, in your goodness forgive those who are worshiping you with all their heart, even though they are not ritually clean.” ²⁰ The Lord answered Hezekiah's prayer; he forgave the people and did not harm them. ²¹ For seven days the people who had gathered in Jerusalem celebrated the Festival of Unleavened Bread with great joy, and day after day the Levites and the priests praised the Lord with all their strength.^{[a] 22} Hezekiah praised the Levites for their skill in conducting the worship of the Lord.

A Second Celebration

After the seven days during which they offered sacrifices in praise of the Lord, the God of their ancestors, ²³ they all decided to celebrate for another seven days. So they celebrated with joy. ²⁴ King Hezekiah contributed 1,000 bulls and 7,000 sheep for the people to kill and eat, and the officials gave them another 1,000 bulls and 10,000 sheep. A large number of priests went through the ritual of purification. ²⁵ So everyone was happy—the people of Judah, the priests, the Levites, the people who had come from the north, and the foreigners who had settled permanently in Israel and Judah. ²⁶ The city of Jerusalem was filled with joy, because nothing like this had happened since the days of King Solomon, the son of David. ²⁷ The priests and the Levites asked the Lord's blessing on the people. In his home in heaven God heard their prayers and accepted them.

The Bowls of God's Anger

16 Then I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels: “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God's anger on the earth!”

^2 (A)The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth. Terrible and painful sores appeared on those who had the mark of the beast and on those who had worshiped its image.

³ Then the second angel poured out his bowl on the sea. The water became like the blood of a dead person, and every living creature in the sea died.

^4 (B)Then the third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and the springs of water, and they turned into blood. ⁵ I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “The judgments you have made are just, O Holy One, you who are and who were! ⁶ They poured out the blood of God's people and of the prophets, and so you have given them blood to drink. They are getting what they deserve!” ⁷ Then I heard a voice from the altar saying, “Lord God Almighty! True and just indeed are your judgments!”

⁸ Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to burn people with its fiery heat. ⁹ They were burned by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God, who has authority over these plagues. But they would not turn from their sins and praise his greatness.

^10 (C)Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast. Darkness fell over the beast's kingdom, and people bit their tongues because of their pain, ¹¹ and they cursed the God of heaven for their pains and sores. But they did not turn from their evil ways.

^12 (D)Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River. The river dried up, to provide a way for the kings who come from the east. ¹³ Then I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs. They were coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. ¹⁴ They are the spirits of demons that perform miracles. These three spirits go out to all the kings of the world, to bring them together for the battle on the great Day of Almighty God.

^15 (E)“Listen! I am coming like a thief! Happy is he who stays awake and guards his clothes, so that he will not walk around naked and be ashamed in public!”

^16 (F)Then the spirits brought the kings together in the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

¹⁷ Then the seventh angel poured out his bowl in the air. A loud voice came from the throne in the temple, saying, “It is done!” ^18 (G)There were flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder, and a terrible earthquake. There has never been such an earthquake since the creation of human beings; this was the worst earthquake of all! ^19 (H)The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of all countries were destroyed. God remembered great Babylon and made her drink the wine from his cup—the wine of his furious anger. ^20 (I)All the islands disappeared, all the mountains vanished. ^21 (J)Huge hailstones, each weighing as much as a hundred pounds, fell from the sky on people, who cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because it was such a terrible plague.

The Future Deliverance of Jerusalem

12 This is a message about Israel from the Lord, the Lord who spread out the skies, created the earth, and gave life to man. He says, ² “I will make Jerusalem like a cup of wine; the nations around her will drink and stagger like drunks. And when they besiege Jerusalem, the cities of the rest of Judah will also be besieged. ³ But when that time comes, I will make Jerusalem like a heavy stone—any nation that tries to lift it will be hurt. All the nations of the world will join forces to attack her. ⁴ At that time I will terrify all their horses and make all their riders go crazy. I will watch over the people of Judah, but I will make the horses of their enemies blind. ⁵ Then the clans of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The Lord God Almighty gives strength to his people who live in Jerusalem.’

⁶ “At that time I will make the clans of Judah like a fire in a forest or in a field of ripe grain—they will destroy all the surrounding nations. The people of Jerusalem will remain safe in the city.

⁷ “I, the Lord, will give victory to the armies of Judah first, so that the honor which the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem will receive will be no greater than that of the rest of Judah. ⁸ At that time the Lord will protect those who live in Jerusalem, and even the weakest among them will become as strong as David was. The descendants of David will lead them like the angel of the Lord, like God himself. ⁹ At that time I will destroy every nation that tries to attack Jerusalem.

^10 (A)“I will fill the descendants of David and the other people of Jerusalem with the spirit of mercy and the spirit of prayer. They will look at the one whom they stabbed to death, and they will mourn for him like those who mourn for an only child. They will mourn bitterly, like those who have lost their first-born son. ¹¹ At that time the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad Rimmon^[a] in the plain of Megiddo. ^12-14 Each family in the land will mourn by itself: the family descended from David, the family descended from Nathan, the family descended from Levi, the family descended from Shimei, and all the other families. Each family will mourn by itself, and the men of each family will mourn separately from the women.

13 “When that time comes,” says the Lord Almighty, “a fountain will be opened to purify the descendants of David and the people of Jerusalem from their sin and idolatry.

Jesus the Real Vine

15 “I am the real vine, and my Father is the gardener. ² He breaks off every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will be clean and bear more fruit. ³ You have been made clean already by the teaching I have given you. ⁴ Remain united to me, and I will remain united to you. A branch cannot bear fruit by itself; it can do so only if it remains in the vine. In the same way you cannot bear fruit unless you remain in me.

⁵ “I am the vine, and you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will bear much fruit; for you can do nothing without me. ⁶ Those who do not remain in me are thrown out like a branch and dry up; such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, where they are burned. ⁷ If you remain in me and my words remain in you, then you will ask for anything you wish, and you shall have it. ⁸ My Father's glory is shown by your bearing much fruit; and in this way you become my disciples. ⁹ I love you just as the Father loves me; remain in my love. ¹⁰ If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love.

¹¹ “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. ^12 (A)My commandment is this: love one another, just as I love you. ¹³ The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them. ¹⁴ And you are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵ I do not call you servants any longer, because servants do not know what their master is doing. Instead, I call you friends, because I have told you everything I heard from my Father. ¹⁶ You did not choose me; I chose you and appointed you to go and bear much fruit, the kind of fruit that endures. And so the Father will give you whatever you ask of him in my name. ¹⁷ This, then, is what I command you: love one another.

The World's Hatred

¹⁸ “If the world hates you, just remember that it has hated me first. ¹⁹ If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you. ^20 (B)Remember what I told you: ‘Slaves are not greater than their master.’ If people persecuted me, they will persecute you too; if they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours too. ²¹ But they will do all this to you because you are mine; for they do not know the one who sent me. ²² They would not have been guilty of sin if I had not come and spoken to them; as it is, they no longer have any excuse for their sin. ²³ Whoever hates me hates my Father also. ²⁴ They would not have been guilty of sin if I had not done among them the things that no one else ever did; as it is, they have seen what I did, and they hate both me and my Father. ^25 (C)This, however, was bound to happen so that what is written in their Law may come true: ‘They hated me for no reason at all.’

²⁶ “The Helper will come—the Spirit, who reveals the truth about God and who comes from the Father. I will send him to you from the Father, and he will speak about me. ²⁷ And you, too, will speak about me, because you have been with me from the very beginning.