M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan
Ahaz Son of Jotham, King of Judah
16 In the seventeenth year of Pekah son of Remaliah, Ahaz son of Jotham, king of Judah, became king. 2 Ahaz was twenty years old when he became king, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord his God, as his father David had done. 3 He walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He even made his son pass through the fire, according to the shameful practices of the nations which the Lord had driven out before the people of Israel. 4 He offered sacrifices and burned incense on the high places, on the hills, and under every leafy tree.
5 Then Rezin king of Aram and Pekah son of Remaliah, the king of Israel, came up to Jerusalem for war. They laid siege to Ahaz, but they could not defeat him. 6 At that time, Rezin king of Aram recovered Elat for Edom,[a] and he drove the people of Judah away from Elat. Then Edomites[b] came to Elat, and they have lived there to this day.
7 So Ahaz sent messengers to Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria, saying, “I am your servant and your son. Come and save me from the hand of the king of Aram and from the hand of the king of Israel, who have come up against me.” 8 Then Ahaz took the silver and the gold which were found in the House of the Lord and in the treasuries of the king’s palace, and he sent them to the king of Assyria as tribute. 9 So the king of Assyria listened to him and attacked Damascus. He exiled the inhabitants to Kir. He also killed Rezin.
The Altar of Ahaz
10 King Ahaz went to meet Tiglath Pileser king of Assyria in Damascus. He saw the altar which was in Damascus, and King Ahaz sent a model of the altar and instructions for making one like it to Uriah the priest. 11 So Uriah the priest built this altar. Uriah the priest did just as King Ahaz had instructed him from Damascus before King Ahaz returned from Damascus. 12 When the king returned from Damascus, he saw the altar. He approached it and ascended it. 13 He offered whole burnt offerings and grain offerings. He poured out drink offerings, and he sprinkled the blood of his fellowship offerings on the altar.
14 He moved the bronze altar, which had been in the presence of the Lord, away from its location in front of the temple building, from between his altar and the Lord’s house, and he put it on the north side of his altar.
15 Then King Ahaz commanded Uriah the priest, “Present the morning burnt offering, the evening grain offering, the king’s burnt offering, his grain offering, and all the people’s burnt offerings, grain offerings, and drink offerings on the great altar. Sprinkle all the blood of the burnt offering and all the blood of the sacrifices on it. But the bronze altar will be mine for divination.” 16 So Uriah the priest did everything just as King Ahaz commanded.
17 Then King Ahaz cut off the side panels of the carts, and he removed the basins that were on them. He took the sea down from its position on the bronze cattle that were under it and put it on a stone pavement. 18 In deference to the king of Assyria, he also removed the Sabbath canopy that had been built for the house[c] and removed the king’s entrance on the outside of the Lord’s house.
19 As for the rest of the acts of Ahaz, the things he did, are they not written in the annals of the kings of Judah? 20 Ahaz rested with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the City of David. Then his son Hezekiah became king in his place.
Encourage With Sound Doctrine
2 But as for you, speak what is appropriate for sound doctrine. 2 Encourage older men to be temperate, worthy of respect, self-controlled, and sound in faith, love, and patient endurance.
3 Likewise, encourage older women to be reverent in their behavior, not slanderers, not enslaved to much wine, but teachers of what is good, 4 so that they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled, pure, busy at home, kind, and submitting to their own husbands, that the word of God might not be slandered.
6 Likewise, encourage younger men to be self-controlled. 7 In all things show yourself to be an example of good works. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, 8 and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that the one who opposes us will be put to shame, because he has nothing bad to say about us.
9 Encourage slaves to submit to their masters in everything, to be pleasing to them, not to be argumentative with them, 10 not to steal from them, but to demonstrate their complete trustworthiness, so that they may show the teaching of God our Savior to be attractive in every way.
11 For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people. 12 It trains us to reject ungodliness and worldly lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope, that is, the glorious appearance of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. 14 He gave himself for us, to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are his own chosen people, eager to do good works.
15 Keep telling people these things. Continue to encourage and rebuke with full authority. Let no one ignore you.
Days of Retribution Are Near
9 Do not rejoice, Israel, with excessive celebration like the nations,
because you act promiscuously against your God.
You love the wages you can earn as a prostitute at every threshing floor for grain.
2 The threshing floor and winepress will not feed them,
and the new wine will fail for them.
3 They will not remain in the Lord’s land.
Ephraim will return to Egypt,
and they will eat unclean food in Assyria.
4 They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord.
Their sacrifices will not be pleasing to him.
For them, their bread will become like the bread eaten by mourners.
Everyone who eats it will be unclean.
This bread will only serve their own appetite.
It will not enter the House of the Lord.
5 What will you do on the day of the appointed festivals
and on the feast days of the Lord?
6 Know this! Even if they flee from destruction,
Egypt will gather them up.
Memphis will bury them.
Thistles will overgrow their silver treasures.
Thorns will grow inside their tents.
7 The days of reckoning have come.
The days of retribution have come.
Israel should know this!
Israel Rejects the Prophets
The prophet is treated like a fool,
and the man of the Spirit is called crazy,
because your guilt is enormous,
and because your hostility is so great.
8 A prophet is to be a watchman over Ephraim for my God,
but a fowler’s snare is laid for him on all of Ephraim’s paths,
and he encounters hostility in the house of his God.[a]
9 They have become extremely corrupt,
as they were in the days of Gibeah.
God will remember their guilt.
He will punish them for their sins.
Fertility Worship Brings No Fertility
10 I regarded Israel like grapes found in the wilderness.
I regarded your forefathers like the first ripe fruit on a fig tree in its first season,
but they went to Baal Peor, and they devoted themselves to a shameful thing,
and they became as disgusting as the thing they loved.
11 Ephraim’s glory will fly away like a bird—
no birth, no pregnancy, no conception!
12 Even if they bring up their children,
I will deprive them of each one.
Yes, woe to them when I depart from them!
13 I have seen Ephraim planted in a pleasant place like Tyre,
but Ephraim will bring its children out to the executioner.
14 Give to them, Lord—but what will you give?
Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.
15 Because of all their evil in Gilgal,
I hated them there.
Because of their evil deeds,
I will drive them out of my house!
I will love them no more.
All their officials are rebels.
16 Ephraim has been struck down.
Their root has dried up.
They will bear no fruit.
Even if they give birth,
I will put their precious offspring to death.
17 My God will reject them, because they have not obeyed him.
They will be wanderers among the nations.
Psalm 126
The Return of the Captives
Heading
A song of the ascents.
The Captives Return
1 When the Lord restored the captives to Zion,[a]
we were like dreamers.
2 Then our mouths were filled with laughter,
and our tongues with shouts of joy.
Then they said among the nations,
“The Lord has done great things for them.”
3 The Lord has done great things for us.
We are glad.
4 Restore our fortunes, O Lord, like the dry gulches of the Negev.
5 Those who sow with weeping will reap with joyful shouts.
6 The one who walks along weeping, carrying a bag of seed to sow,
will come back again with joyful shouts, carrying his sheaves.
Psalm 127
The Lord Builds the House
Heading
A song of the ascents. By Solomon.
The Lord Builds the House
1 If the Lord does not build the house,
it is useless for the builders to work hard over it.
If the Lord does not watch over the city,
it is useless for the watchman to stand guard.
2 It is useless for you to get up early and to work late,
worrying about bread to eat,
because God grants sleep to the one he loves.[b]
3 Indeed, children are a heritage from the Lord.
The fruit of the womb is a reward from him.
4 Sons born during one’s youth are like arrows
in the hand of a warrior.
5 How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them.
They will not be put to shame
when they dispute with enemies at the city gate.[c]
Psalm 128
A Blessed Family
Heading
A song of the ascents.
Promise
1 How blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
everyone who is walking in his ways.
2 Yes, you will eat the food you worked for.
How blessed you are! It will go well for you!
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine in the inner rooms of your house.
Your children will be like olive shoots around your table.
4 Look! This is how blessed the man is who fears the Lord!
Prayer
5 May the Lord bless you from Zion,
so that you see the prosperity of Jerusalem,
all the days of your life,
6 and you see your children’s children.
Peace be on Israel.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.